Saracens players held positive talks over their futures
Saracens players have held positive talks about their future at the club, says hooker Tom Woolstencroft.
The Gallagher Premiership and Heineken Champions Cup holders will play in the second tier of English rugby next season after accepting relegation to the Championship for repeated salary cap breaches.
Jamie George revealed on Thursday he would stay at Saracens and Woolstencroft, who signed from London Irish in 2018, has joined his fellow forward in committing long-term to Mark McCall’s side.
“Everyone wants to know what everyone is doing,” Woolstencroft said, ahead of Saturday’s home match with Sale.
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“They are your mates, people you get on with and work with every day and that is why a lot of us do it to play with our mates and play for this club.
“Generally the chats have been really positive and hopefully we can push forward.”
On his own future, the 25-year-old revealed: “For me personally I would relish the opportunity to bring the club back up to where we were and hopefully I can be part of that next year.”
In November, Saracens were handed a 35-point deduction and fined £5.36million for breaching the salary cap rule in each of the last three campaigns.
Two months later they were deducted a further 70 points, with their relegation to the Championship confirmed by Premiership Rugby too after they were found to have breached the salary cap this season.
It leaves little motivation for McCall’s men ahead of the final 13 league games of the term, but Woolstencroft disagrees.
“We have spoken about this a lot as a team and for us there is still a lot to play for,” he added.
“When I entered into them, they were all – to my knowledge – above board. There wasn’t any intention or even a thought that this was not above board."https://t.co/M9UHa4FHCL
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“Whilst it is not the Premiership as such, for us we are all still competitive athletes and all still want to win.
“Ultimately teams will now write us off as not being too interested, but that almost, particularly for the younger boys and boys coming through, really drives us to prove them wrong and put down a marker for ourselves and the team and prep for next year.”
Another part of Saracens’ motivation for the next few months is the chance to defend their Champions Cup crown.
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Saracens confirm the loss of their title sponsor. https://t.co/edXyg02IEs
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The club are still in the competition after an independent disciplinary committee on Friday decided only to fine the holders 50,000 euros (£42,500) – half of which is suspended – for fielding an ineligible player in their January win over Racing 92.
It means Saracens will still travel to Leinster on April 4 for a Champions Cup quarter-final tie and McCall’s team only found out after losing at Sale last week in the Premiership Rugby Cup semi-final.
Woolstencroft said: “The boys still put in a great performance in that Racing game and we feel like we deserve that spot.
Rohan Janse van Rensburg talks genes, @SaleSharksRugby and wanting to be rep the @Springboks once again
– with @chrisjonespress ???https://t.co/2ee0j0RhRr
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“For that to come through after the (Sale) game was a bit of nice news after a not so good loss.”
The hooker featured in the defeat on Friday and will be part of the side who face the same opposition again at Allianz Park on Saturday, this time in the Premiership.
“It’s a massive opportunity for us to right those wrongs,” the Bath academy graduate said.
Saracens received more bad news on Thursday when Allianz confirmed they would finish their sponsorship agreement with the club and their stadium at the end of the season.
Comments on RugbyPass
In the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getitng to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
5 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
6 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
5 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
6 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
54 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
54 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
6 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
54 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
55 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
54 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
54 Go to commentsI’m a pensioner so I've been around a bit. My opinion of SBW is he is an elite athlete and a great New Zealander and roll model. He has been to the top and knows what he's talking about. To all the negative comments regarding SBW the typical New Zealand way, cut that tall poppy down.
18 Go to comments