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Saracens have confirmed its squad for the remainder of the 2019/20 campaign and the 2020/21 Championship season. Fourteen senior players have signed new contracts beyond the 2020/21 season.
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England and British & Irish Lions internationals Elliot Daly, Owen Farrell, Jamie George and Maro Itoje have all penned new deals meaning all six of Saracens’ England 2019 Rugby World Cup final starters (including Billy and Mako Vunipola) have committed their long-term future to the club.
Scotland wing Sean Maitland and fellow flyer Alex Lewington have both extended for two years while lock Callum Hunter-Hill made his move from Edinburgh Rugby permanent, signing for three years.
Academy graduates Dom Morris and Ralph Adams-Hale have committed themselves until 2022 and 2023 respectively, and five further players pledged their future to the Men in Black before heading out on loan.
Ben Earl and Max Malins re-signed ahead of joining Bristol Bears for a year and Nick Isiekwe signed for Northampton Saints on a season-long loan after agreeing a new deal until 2024.
Wales centre Nick Tompkins will continue his international ambitions with a campaign at the Dragons and fellow midfielder Alex Lozowski will play in the Top 14 with Montpellier.
Mike Rhodes has extended his contract for another year while captain Brad Barritt and club stalwart Richard Wigglesworth have both signed short-term deals until the end of the 2019/20 season.
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Six players have graduated from the Senior Academy.
Manu Vunipola, Andy Christie, Elliott Obatoyinbo Sean Reffell and Joel Kpoku have penned long-term contracts with the Men in Black and are now part of the Senior Squad. Kapeli Pifeleti has also made the transition.
The sextet have 97 first-team appearances between them to date.
Seven new faces will be part of the Sarries squad moving forward.
Wales scrum-half Aled Davies bolsters Mark McCall’s options at nine and Scotland’s Tim Swinson has been lured out of retirement.
BREAKING: Details confirmed for remaining Six Nations matches.https://t.co/NJf2j7KkFC
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 5, 2020
USA Eagle Will Hooley and former Newcastle Falcons back Juan Pablo Socino add Championship experience to the squad as do centre Harry Sloan and Jersey duo Alec Clarey and Janco Venter.
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Nine first-team players have left the club.
After 12 years in north London, George Kruis leaves for a new challenge in Japan with Panosonic Wild Knights while Ben Spencer’s nine-year stay has ended with a move to Bath Rugby.
Liam Williams (Scarlets) and Academy graduate Matt Gallagher (Munster) will ply their trade in the Pro14 next term as will Rhys Carre who has returned to boyhood club Cardiff Blues. Joe Gray, Titi Lamositele and Will Skelton have signed with Harlequins, Montpellier and La Rochelle respectively.
?? Saracens is pleased to confirm its squad for the remainder of the 2019/20 campaign and the 2020/21 Championship season.#TogetherSaracens ???
— Saracens Rugby Club (@Saracens) August 5, 2020
Viliami Hakalo has left Saracens following the end of his contract.
FULL SENIOR SQUAD LIST
Props
Alec Clarey
Eroni Mawi
Josh Ibuanokpe
Mako Vunipola
Ralph Adams-Hale
Richard Barrington
Vincent Koch
Hookers
Jamie George
Kapeli Pifeleti
Tom Woolstencroft
Locks
Callum Hunter-Hill
Joel Kpoku
Maro Itoje
Tim Swinson
Back Row
Andy Christie
Billy Vunipola
Calum Clark
Jackson Wray
Janco Venter
Mike Rhodes
Sean Reffell
Scrum-Halves
Aled Davies
Alex Day
Richard Wigglesworth*
Tom Whiteley
Fly-Halves
Manu Vunipola
Owen Farrell
Will Hooley
Centres
Brad Barritt*
Dom Morris
Duncan Taylor
Elliot Daly
Harry Sloan
Juan Pablo Socino
Back Three
Alex Goode
Alex Lewington
Ali Crossdale
Elliott Obatoyinbo
Rotimi Segun
Sean Maitland
DEPARTURES
Ben Spencer (Bath Rugby)
George Kruis (Panosonic Wild Knights)
Joe Gray (Harlequins)
Liam Williams (Scarlets)
Matt Gallagher (Munster)
Rhys Carre (Cardiff Blues)
Titi Lamositele (Montpellier)
Viliami Hakalo (Retired)
Will Skelton (La Rochelle)
LOANS RETURNING FOR 2021/22 CAMPAIGN
Alex Lozowski (Montpellier)
Ben Earl (Bristol Bears)
Jack Singleton (Gloucester)
Max Malins (Bristol Bears)
Nick Isiekwe (Northampton Saints)
Nick Tompkins (Dragons)
* Brad Barritt and Richard Wigglesworth have signed until the end of the 2019/20 Premiership Rugby campaign
Comments on RugbyPass
A long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates live or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is hear and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
2 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
2 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
28 Go to comments