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'Have you ever seen him warm up? You should watch his warm-up'

Saracens' Juan Martin Gonzalez at Ashton Gate (Photo by Bob Bradford/CameraSport via Getty Images)

Saracens boss Mark McCall jumped onboard the bus back to London on Saturday night singing the praises of Juan Martin Gonzalez. The Argentine back-rower was immense in the Gallagher Premiership champions’ 41-20 Ashton Gate raid, disrupting the Bristol attack at a time when it appeared that Pat Lam’s side could run away with it having established an early 3-13 lead.

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He finished with a lung-bursting, chart-topping 23 tackles but the 23-year-old was also supreme on the ball, linking to give Maro Itoje an assist for a first-half try and then running the support line to collect a pass from fellow countryman Lucio Cinti to score the bonus-point try on 66 minutes.

It was last June, amid the fall-out from the collapse of London Irish, when Saracens snapped up the Pumas Rugby World Cup pick and his switch to North London has been a success with both him and Cinti agreeing to contract extensions in March.

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As brilliant as he was on the pitch, director of rugby McCall offered a tip about the Argentine’s pre-game preparation that immensely adds to what he then goes on to achieve when the match whistle blows

Invited to sing the praises of arguably the best bang for buck 2023/24 signing across the 10-team league, a smiling McCall replied: “Have you ever seen him warm-up? You should watch his warm up. It’s like he has played a match.

Player Tackles Won

1
Juan Martin Gonzalez
22
2
Tom Willis
20
3
Ben Earl
17

“I am saying to our S&C guys, he shouldn’t be doing as much as he is doing but he has got his own way of preparing for a match and I have never seen him give anything less than 100 per cent. He is a great addition to the squad. Lucio as well and they are both highly respected by everyone.”

Also impressive was the Saracens rush defence which tempted the Bears to kick rashly or else make too many handling errors.

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Brendan Venter, the South African who laid the foundation a decade and a half ago that McCall and co have lavishly built on, was with them for the past week on one of his quarterly visits.

As nice as it was to catch up with his old boss, who was decked out in club gear and with the coaching team in the Lansdown Stand for the game, McCall was keen to give assistant Adam Powell the kudos for a rearguard job very well done.

Especially when limiting the damage while reduced to 13 players for eight second-half minutes due to yellow cards for Maro Itoje and Ben Earl.

“Brendan is a brilliant advisor to one and all when he comes. He comes four, five times a year and he injects energy into the building and wiseness and can see stuff from afar that maybe we are not doing as well as we could. It’s always wonderful to have him.”

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Did he finesse the defence in the build-up? “No, no, but having been a defence coach himself down the years, for the young, up-and-coming brilliant defence coach we have in Adam Powell, he is a very young man and has someone like Brendan helping and guiding him.

“That (defence versus Bristol) was all Adam’s but having Brendan to lead on during the week was good, especially against a team like Bristol who run the ball in the manner that they do,” explained McCall, who added Venter won’t be around for next weekend’s home clash with Sanderson as he was flying back to South Africa this Sunday.

Saracens head into the final round of the regular season placed second and while they are qualified for a June 1 semi-final, they need a result versus the fourth pace Sale to secure knockout stage home advantage.

As good as they were in Bristol in taking their winning streak in the league to six games, McCall is taking nothing for granted against an opposition guided by his former Saracens assistant Alex Sanderson.

“You assume nothing,” he insisted. “Just because you did it today it doesn’t mean you do it next week. I watched Sale Friday night, they are a hell of a challenge to play against so you have got to prepare really well.

“You have got to do your homework but if you play in the spirit we played the last couple of weeks, we will always have a chance against anyone.”

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O
Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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