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Dean Richards' pointed warning to Championship-bound Saracens
Dean Richards, whose Newcastle team are nine points clear at the top of the English Championship, has warned relegated Saracens they will need a spine of experienced players to ensure an immediate return to the Gallagher Premiership.
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Richards took Harlequins back up to the top flight of the English game in 2006 and is on course to do the same with Newcastle whose relegation last season saw them loan England flanker Mark Wilson to Sale for twelve months while other players opted to leave including Chris Harris (Gloucester), Simon Hammersley (Sale) and Niki Goneva (Harlequins).
However, Newcastle retained experienced Test players such as England No10 Toby Flood, Samoa prop Logovi’i Mulipola and Tonga scrum-half Sonatane Takulua to deal with the dangers lurking in the second tier of English rugby.
Saracens’ 45-strong squad will have individual interviews over the next two days with Mark McCall, the director of rugby, and acting CEO Edward Griffiths as the disgraced English and European champions work out what kind of squad will be possible for the promotion challenge next season.
Key players such as Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje and Billy and Mako Vunipola may need to be playing Premiership level rugby to keep their England places and stay on course for inclusion in the British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa in 2021.
(Continue reading below…)
Mark McCall confirms Saracens’ squad will be broken up
Richards saw his men defeat struggling Yorkshire Carnegie 36-10 in a near-deserted Headingley Stadium on Sunday. He told RugbyPass: “There are a lot of old pros in the Championship and unless you have that understanding of how to play the game in this league then you could struggle, particularly with a load of kids. The old pros in the Championships know how to control a game and play the referee and are adaptable which means they can exploit any chink in your armour.
“You need strength across the board and if you don’t then you will struggle. If you had told me at the start of the season we would be replacing Saracens if we got promotion, I would have been totally surprised. We didn’t beat them in the Premiership and they had that strength come off the bench which caused us a few problems. The Premiership will evolve and move on with or without Saracens in 18 months – that’s life.”
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'In many ways this is the end of that era that dates back to the start of 2009.'https://t.co/ixvp0uo1xz
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 19, 2020
Will Richards be looking to pick up any Saracens players who want to remain in the Premiership next season? “You have look at things closely and you cannot front-load things. If people come available at the right price then we will look at them. It has to be pretty cheap from that point of things.”
Richards was delighted to retain the majority of players he wanted to help Newcastle’s promotion bid and is using the experience he gained guiding Harlequins back into the Premiership, although the loss of some key squad members had to be expected. “Such is the culture we have in the squad we retained the majority of players we wanted and Mark Wilson will come back from his loan to Sale next season. It means we have the nucleus of the side that played in the Premiership and we understand how to play at that level.
“For the clubs (in the Championship) these games are their cup finals and they want to knock us off our perch. In an odd way playing in the Championship means a more competitive lineout battle and other areas with some of the teams a bit bigger and more robust. There are some good teams in this league and with a bit more vision and will to play they could cause a lot of Premiership teams problems.
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“It has been an eye-opener for us and a lot of boys thought we would come straight back up and it wouldn’t be too difficult. However, there have been a lot of tough games – at Bedford and London Scottish in constant rain and there are a lot of levellers in the Championship.“
Saracens, as RugbyPass revealed on Saturday, recognise the “Galacticos” who currently make up their squad will be broken up due to the need to reduce the wage bill which saw them relegated after breaking the salary cap for four seasons.
After defeating Racing 92 to earn a quarter-final place as they defend their Heineken Champions Cup title, McCall admitted: “Every player has got a slightly different situation. We will also have to talk to Eddie Jones and see what he thinks in terms of his established players from Saracens and the younger ones.
“Is he prepared for people to be playing in the Championship? Someone like Ben Earl we’d like to keep at the club for the next five years, but he’s so close to getting on the England team.”
WATCH: Andy Goode and Brendan Venter didn’t hold back on this week’s The Rugby Pod as they discussed Saracens and the salary cap scandal
Comments on RugbyPass
The rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
75 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
1 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
9 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
12 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
9 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
9 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
9 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
9 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
41 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to commentsResults probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
2 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
3 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to comments