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The 'no mean feat' that has pricked Saracens' European attention
Saracens are back in European action this weekend following their one-season absence, the serial Champions Cup winners under Mark McCall preparing to play their first match in the second-tier Challenge Cup since the 2009/10 season when they featured in a pool containing Rovigo, Castres and Toulon. The London club didn’t make it to the knockout stages on that occasion, getting pipped by a point by Toulon, but one of the two French teams lying in wait for Saracens this time around will bring memories flooding back for McCall.
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Not long after he had resigned as the Ulster boss, McCall hooked up with Jeremy Davidson, his former Ulster, London Irish and Ireland teammate, in December 2007. The French outfit were under considerable pressure at the time and the assisting Irish duo didn’t last long there.
So hurt was McCall following his experience at Ulster that he even suggested during his time at Castres that he was likely to leave coaching and switch back into the legal world. However, Brendan Venter, another old London Irish colleague, tempted him to hook up with Saracens and the rest, as they say, is history, McCall at the heart of the transformation of the Londoners from also-rans to serial winners in England and at the highest level in Europe.
While McCall was creating a legacy at Saracens, Davidson’s coaching career took a different path. He spent some time at Ulster before heading back to France and taking a circuitous route to the Top 14, turning tier-two Aurillac into a competitive outfit before taking an assistant’s position at Bordeaux.
That eventually led to the top job at Brive and he will now clash with his old pal McCall next April in the final round of Pool 3’s Challenge Cup, a group that also contains Pau, London Irish and Edinburgh, the Scottish outfit who are first up for Saracens this Saturday at the StoneX.
Saracens boss Mark McCall on the grim November 13 Test rugby afternoon when three of his players, including Owen Farrell, were lost to serious injury #Sale #GallagherPrem #England #Italy #AutumnNationsSeries
https://t.co/2eVqmRyjBy— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 24, 2021
Brive finished last term eleventh in the Top 14 with eleven wins from 26 games and while they are currently one place worse off, twelfth with four wins from a dozen matches, McCall has got the utmost respect for what Davidson has so far achieved at Stade Amedee-Domenech. “I know Brive quite well, they have got Jeremy Davidson who I coached with at Castres when I was in France.
“He is their head coach; obviously, Jeremy is from Ulster as well. And what Jeremy has done with the team over the last couple of years has been outstanding, where they won half of their games last year in the Top 14 which is no mean feat.
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“And all of those wins were at home, and we are playing them away from home. I haven’t coached in France for a couple of years but I know how strongly it feels for those clubs to win at home, and just how their supporters get behind the team. So, it’s going to be a really good experience for us to go to these difficult places and see if we can get the job done.”
Having reached the semi-finals of the 2019/20 Champions Cup, Saracens were missing last season from Europe due to their automatic relegation to the Championship in England following breaches of the Premiership salary cap.
Comments on RugbyPass
Beautiful 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 commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to comments