ONE STEP UP – Saracens 25-26 Preview

They’ve just triumphed in the cup, and Saracens head coach Alex Austerberry tells Helen M Jerome that they now want to go that one step further in the PWR this year – from runners-up to champions…

This feels like a defining season for Saracens, knowing that Gloucester Hartpury are always formidable frontrunners, but with the rest of the West Country and the likes of London rivals Harlequins – and maybe even much-boosted Trailfinders – also snapping at their heels.

Sarries have added the likes of Jodie Verghese, Sydney Mead, Morgan Freeman, Amelia Tutt, Jemima Moss and at the very last minute, Canadian star Olivia Apps (above, right), to their squad.

Crucially, they’ve also got Jess Breach to re-commit and re-sign to the club – and she lines up alongside fellow Red Roses World Cup winners Zoe Harrison (above, centre, with Breach), Rosie Galligan, Marlie Packer, Kelsey Clifford and May Campbell.

Oh, and they have none other than World Player of the Year, Sophie De Goede (above, left) back from injury after her incredible World Cup performances.

No wonder head coach Alex Austerberry is looking rather happy.

So, Alex, how excited are you that Jess Breach has signed on again?

I’ve been excited for a long time. I’ve had a pleasure working with Jess since she was 14, 15 years old down at Pulborough rugby club.

It’s fantastic to have her back. She’s a game changer. She’s exciting on the pitch.

She gets people on the edge of their seats; she gets the crowd going, and for us she’s pivotal in what we want to do.

And the reason she gets these magic moments is she works incredibly hard off the ball in game and incredibly hard behind the scenes to make sure she’s the player that she is.

So yeah absolutely delighted to have Jess here and committing a future to Saracens because she’s a great human being and a pretty good rugby player!

What are your ambitions for Saracens this season?

To go one step further than last year.

Ultimately, we’ve got an incredibly talented team, and we need to make sure that we fulfil the potential of this group. Our cup win already indicates that this is a strong group, and with the players that are coming back from their World Cup experiences that augments it further.

Our job as coaches is to make sure we squeeze every last drop out of this group and achieve what they’ve got the potential to achieve.

Is there one last tweak or change that can get you over the line do you think?

If you look at overall stats, you’ve done pretty well. We’ve got, I think it was the best attack last year, the best defence for the last couple of years, the most offloads.

I just think we need to ensure that under pressure our set piece stands up. Games of rugby who won by if you can secure your own ball and we just need to do that a little bit more consistently.

But that said, with the exception of the final, it was probably an area of strength for us as well.

It’s just making sure in those pressure moments you get that you execute your drill, and you take the opportunities when they arrive.

So I don’t think it’s a case of there being a magic pill out there!

It’s just making sure that in those key moments – and sometimes you don’t know you’re in a key moment until it’s happened – that you win more of those.

We’ve got a very experienced group, a group that’s been to big occasions. It’s been a couple of years since we’re at the Prem final, but I think that experience, that disappointment, will stand us in good stead to fix it.

And obviously some new recruitment as well, which bolsters areas of your team, and hopefully everyone you recruit makes you stronger.

So I think all those factors and all those elements combined means that we should be in a pretty good place this year.

Who are the names we should look out for, maybe players that might have a breakout season?

Hopefully all of them will go to another level.

[laughs] I don’t want to be already in week one upsetting players by not name-dropping them in the first interview!

But you’ve got Tori Sellors, a youngster, obviously established herself with the 20s. She’ll get some good exposures. And Bryony Field. The thing is competition for places, so if any of these players get into the starting team and get in minutes, it’s because they’ve earned that opportunity through training.

But I think some of the youngsters like Amelia Tutt as well. Joia Bennett has had an incredible cup run. And Jodie Verghese is new to the club, some great performances.

We’ve got some new faces, but we’ve still got a lot of familiar faces. Because being able to look around the room and players have the confidence and the relationships already built is equally as important as some new people breaking through.

But we’ve got some incredibly talented youngsters coming through and hopefully they come on a stage.

But I don’t want to stick them on a pedestal. Our young players need to be nurtured. They need to be supported and through.

If I say I’m expecting one to become a worldie, there’ll be inevitably some setbacks along the course of the year. I don’t want that to damage them.

I’m excited by our young crop coming through.

They’ve done some incredible things in the cup this year and also in previous seasons and, you I’m excited to see when they fully break onto the PWR stage and set it alight.

And when they do that, that will be exactly the right time for me to sing and shout about it.

All the excitement around the World Cup, not just with England, but the whole thing was such an occasion. How can we take the lessons we learned from it and take that impetus into the PWR?

For me it’s to celebrate also that the PWR Cup was ongoing during that time and the future stars of World Cups to come were plying their trade.

We’re doing some incredible things, and it’s great that we’ve got some of these global superstars that are absolutely driving the game forward.

So let’s celebrate them, but let’s also make sure we support and celebrate the next future stars and that we capture that.

And we get the narratives and story lines so that it’s not just one or two that are flying the flag. It’s the 450 players across the league that we’re promoting in very different ways to celebrate the uniqueness of the league, and also just how special it is.

Also, what’s gone before. I keep saying we’re on the shoulders of giants.

If I just talk from a Saracens point of view, there’s been some incredible individuals who have worn the Saracens shirt that made it possible, that made a viable league to start off with, started making sure that there was something domestically that could celebrate and support players.

So it’s very important that we still capture that, because some of those people have gone on to do incredible things in industry and it’s those are the role models equally that we need to shout and celebrate and capture, just capture the special kind of moment that we’ve got and let’s make sure we get it right. So that any kid, boy, girl down at the local rugby club has been inspired and has got the opportunity to play and that pathway is there. And that’s not just a pathway to play, that’s a pathway to watch.

I’ve just actually come from a meeting with referees about how we secure the future of the next referees. Rugby’s always been a game for everyone, all shape and sizes. But also it’s a game for anyone who wants to do anything within it, whether it be a volunteer down at your local club, maybe someone making teas or playing that highest level, that’s what we’ve got to capture.

It’s not just about the elite performance – which is outstanding and exciting – but it’s about everything.

I think that’s the bit that if we get it right, then we’ll be in a special place.

When I’m old and greyer, 20 years down the line [laughs] probably 20 minutes down the line. You look back and go: wow, that was that incredible moment and that World Cup was a huge success.

We captured that and we sent it into the stratosphere, right? That’s what we need to do!

Saracens travel to play at Gloucester Hartpury at the Circus, Kingsholm at 3pm on Sunday 26^th October. Get down there, or watch live on TNT Sports.