Saracens banish their 'ghosts' with Premiership final victory as Billy Vunipola comes through unscathed
Mark McCall admits his relief with the 27-10 victory over Exeter Chiefs and revels in Saracens' 'best performance' at Twickenham
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Your support makes all the difference.A drenched Mark McCall was delighted to banish the “ghosts” of Saracens’ mid-season slump after clinching their fourth Premiership final victory in a 27-10 win over Exeter Chiefs that the director of rugby believes was their most dominant Twickenham performance to date.
Four tries ended Exeter’s reign as English champions and returned the Premiership trophy to north London in a match that, bar the first 10 minutes, Saracens really didn’t look like losing. It was a long way from their display against Clermont Auvergne in the European Champions Cup back in December when a harrowing 46-14 defeat in the middle of a seven-game losing run put them on the brink of an early European exit.
“That feels special for a couple of reasons,” McCall said after emerging from the team’s boozy dressing room celebrations. “Where we were in December having lost five games in a row, to be here today and play the way we did, that feels really good.
“When you lose five games in a row, as an organisation you start to see ghosts and things that are wrong when they’re not wrong. We were calm and composed but fought our way through that period.
“I’m also pleased because of the quality of our performance. It feels like our best final performance because of the quality of the opposition we played. It was brilliant that we were so alive. It was a top class performance.”
McCall confirmed that that all of his England players came through the energy-sapping final played in searing temperatures without injury, with Owen Farrell confirming that he was forced off the field with cramp.
“It was a battle of attrition,” Farrell said. “I’m just chuffed for the organisation. To do it the way we’ve done it this year; we’ve had some good times and we’ve had some tough times. We figured it out and we’ve come back better for it. We’ve had some tough matches and we’ve been honest with ourselves. We’ve learnt a lot. When you think of all that, it makes days like today just brilliant.
“We’ll enjoy tonight, maybe tomorrow as well, then we’ll be into it with England next week.”
The final also saw Billy Vunipola come through another match, with his 59-minute outing enough to suggest that he is ready to go for England in South Africa next month after an injury-hit campaign. McCall revealed after the match that the No 8 barely trained in the lead up to the match, and that he was only confirmed to start the game after coming through the warm-up an hour before kick-off.
“He came through well, because really he didn’t do a lot of training in the week,” McCall added. “When you’ve got weariness in the hamstring probably the most sensible thing to do is not do as many days as you can possibly do, so we decided with Billy not to do anything until the warm-up today. It was an interesting warm-up, all eyes on Billy, but he came through fine. He did pretty well, didn’t he?”
The victory proved a fitting farewell too for Saracens’ departing players Schalk Brits and Chris Wyles, whose two tries sparked wild celebrations among his teammates in the dream finale for the United States international. Brits was not so lucky, as he was shown a yellow card six minutes after coming on by referee Wayne Barnes, but that did not stop the team captain Brad Barritt paying tribute to the departing pair.
“We all know as players what Chris and Schalk have given to Saracens and the many memories they’ve given the club,” said Barritt. “We can’t speak enough about what a galvanising force they’ve been for the culture at Saracens, so I just want to put on record what unbelievable people they’ve been, they’ve been instrumental in building the culture and they leave with the full support of the organisation and a huge thanks personally for what they’ve given to the club.”
McCall added: “It’s sad for us to say goodbye to two absolute legends of the club. What a great day for Chris Wyles to score two tries and the way he scored them. He’s been at the club for 10 years and has been as important off the field as he has been on it. Schalk Brits is the same, although he got a yellow card today he’ll be chuffed with the way his career’s finished.”
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