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England scrumhalf Richard Wigglesworth has warned their title-chasing rivals that Saracens are peaking at the right time to claim another Aviva Premiership trophy and has dismissed fears the club’s England stars are running on empty.
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Key players Maro Itoje, Mako Vunipola, Owen Farrell, Jamie George and George Kruis came into the season after taking part in the British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand and have been performing for England and the club on a seemingly endless treadmill. Now with one more round of regular season Premiership matches on Saturday – Sarries are home to Gloucester- followed by the play-off semi-finals and final, the question is how much those vital Sarries players still have in the tank?
Wigglesworth believes the return from injury of Scotland centre Duncan Taylor, Springbok prop Vincent Koch and outstanding flanker Michael Rhodes gives the European Champions Cup holders a real edge going into final weeks of the season and Billy Vunipola is also likely to feature when the hamstring injury he picked this week is sorted out.
Having lost in the quarter-finals to Leinster in their bid to win three successive Champions Cup trophies, the Premiership is the sole focus for Sarries and Wigglesworth said: “It is now about finding our best form and keeping it going because there is a lot more to come from us. The guys coming back like Duncan Taylor, Vincent Koch and Michael Rhodes – plus Billy – are top players and we have learnt a lot about ourselves this season.
“The best thing about the big players is just how mentally strong they are and when you question them then they deliver. Don’t get me wrong, it does catch up with you at some point as you cannot play every week year after year and so they are valid questions. But, the guys could not have been any better in terms of driving performances and standards. We are very lucky to have the senior internationals we do at the club
“Last season we were fighting on all fronts at this stage and we came up just short in the Premiership. You do watch the Champions Cup semi-finals with a hint of jealously but there wasn’t any moaning but you do wish you could have been there. However, we weren’t quite good enough.
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“We never set goals and are a one week at a time team and all we want to do is give ourselves a chance which we didn’t do in the Champions Cup but we have in the Premiership.
Contine watching below…
“This season has not been as straightforward because of the injuries and the odd bad loss plus the run of defeats. It is during those times that you learn about yourself as an individual and as a team and we will be better for it both now and next season.“
Wigglesworth can expect to be named in England’s squad next week for the three test tour of South Africa in June along with Nick Isiekwe who has just turned 20-years-old but has already been capped and has enjoyed an outstanding season for the club, filling in at lock and blindside flanker.
“Nick has been great and his learning curve has been amazing in the last 12 months and we can see how good he is going to be if he keeps working as hard. There isn’t anything he can’t go on and do.” added Wigglesworth.
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Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to comments