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'If you want to be a Saracens player and you p*** about in the Championship you will not be a Saracens player for the next 10 years'

By PA
PA

Richard Wigglesworth has urged his Saracens team-mates not to treat life in the Championship next season with contempt following their European heartbreak.

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Saracens’ hopes of a fourth Heineken Champions Cup title in five years evaporated on Saturday as Juan Imhoff’s late try gave Racing 92 a 19-15 semi-final victory.

It was Saracens’ last visit to rugby’s top table for a while after their relegation from the Gallagher Premiership for breaching salary cap regulations.

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England players fitting suits

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England players fitting suits

And former England scrum-half Wigglesworth – who is leaving Saracens after 10 years in north London and admitted he was a “bit of a mess” after the final whistle in Paris – had a sobering message for his colleagues.

“The Championship will be difficult,” Wigglesworth said. “The large majority of the squad will play the large majority of the games.

“If you want to be a Saracens player and you p*** about in the Championship you will not be a Saracens player for the next 10 years.

“It is pretty obvious you will not get away with that because Ealing and the other teams have improved really well and are fully professional.

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“The future is bright because the academy has done it the right way, but Owen (Farrell) and Maro (Itoje) have this level of what it requires to be to be a Saracens player, and you might need a few of those boys to get them over the line.”

England stars Farrell, Itoje, Jamie George, Elliot Daly and the Vunipola brothers, Billy and Mako, are among Mark McCall’s squad who have committed to spending next season in the Championship.

But the likes of Ben Spencer, George Kruis and Liam Williams have already left Sarries following the salary cap scandal, and Wigglesworth and captain Brad Barritt will also depart after the 2019/20 season comes to an end this week with games against Worcester and Bath.

“I was a bit of a mess afterwards,” Wigglesworth said of the semi-final defeat. “It hit me and I am sure it will be an emotive week for myself and more so for Brad.

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“He has been here 12 years, the captain who has basically lifted every trophy we have ever won and it is a joke what he puts his body through.

“We need to have a good week and enjoy it, but I am not going to say it is not going to be tinged with sadness.”

Wigglesworth, 37, joined from Sale in 2010 and has played over 200 games for Saracens.

During the 2018/19 season he broke Steve Borthwick’s 265-game record for the most Premiership appearances.

On his own future, Wigglesworth said: “I have some options to sort out in the next couple of weeks.

“I have been intensely focused on what I have been doing, but now I need to do what is best for me and my family and make a good career decision.

“If it does not happen in the next couple of weeks it is because the things on the table are not right.

“I need to think about where I can make an impact and contribute really well.”

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f
fl 1 hour ago
Ex-Wallaby laughs off claims Bath are amongst the best in the world

“Yes I wrote that, because you had Leinster as the best team in the world. What was that based on - winning the URC this season?”

It was based on Leinster’s performances over the course of this season, and on their trophy. If Bordeaux beat Toulouse then I’ll change my mind and move them to first. But as it is I expect Bordeaux, Toulouse, and Leinster to all finish with one trophy each, and with Leinster having produced the best week-on-week performances of the three.


“One of those teams won the league in each of those years so yes they were worse. If I was a fan of either of those four teams I would rather have been a fan of a team that won a trophy than didn’t.”

That’s true - I would too. With regard to Stormers I think their trophy was very much enabled by the fact that they weren’t playing in europe, so were able to rest their players much more than the non-SA teams were so I’m not sure whether I would or wouldn’t consider them to have had a better season than Leinster in 2022, but clearly Munster and Glasgow (respectively) had better seasons than Leinster in 2023 and 2024. But if I was a fan of one of those 3 teams I would rather be a fan of a team that won 66 URC+CC matches over the course of 3 seasons (Leinster) than a team that won 46 (Munster) or 42 (Glasgow). If you think trophies are literally the only thing that matters, do you think Blackburn Rovers are a more successful Premier League team than Tottenham Hotspur are?


“You contradict yourself alot. Trophies matter in one post and in the same post coming second consistently makes you better.”

Its going to get really frustrating if you’re not willing to read what I write. I said: “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.” How does that contradict my assessment that Leinster were better than Stormers?


“I doubt Leinster would say they have been the better team in any of the seasons you keep going on about.”

Teams generally downplay talk of them being the best, so that wouldn’t surprise me. But crucially I don’t think Leinster were the best team in 2022, or in 2023, or in 2024, so I’m not sure what you think you’re responding to.


“Lets make it clear though - you are the one who went on and on about previous seasons with your deep dive into la Rochelle and Stormers etc.”

Yeah - I did that because you brought up Leinster’s trophyless record from 2022-2024, so I thought that was worth responding to. If you’d like though I can stop responding to the things you say?

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