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How Saracens' players reacted to takeover when Wray addressed them

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Mark McCall has explained how his players reacted last Friday when Nigel Wray addressed the squad at the Saracens training ground, telling them that the fraught financial period following their January 2020 automatic relegation from the Gallagher Premiership was finally over with a £32million takeover that was officially made public the following day. 

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Saracens are now back in the top flight following their season in the Championship and but for the concession of a clock-in-the-red penalty try at Leicester last Saturday, they would be two wins from two heading into next Saturday’s home clash versus Newcastle.

There had been financial concerns over how Wray and co might bounce back following Saracens’ damaging stint outside the Premiership, but their future now seems secure following the takeover by a consortium that includes Francois Pienaar, the 1995 Springboks World Cup-winning captain, and Marco Masotti, owner of South Africa’s URC-playing Sharks.

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What happened when RugbyPass went behind the scenes at the Saracens women’s team

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What happened when RugbyPass went behind the scenes at the Saracens women’s team

Wray has retained a minority shareholding, so he won’t just suddenly vanish from the club, and asked by RugbyPass about the reaction amongst the squad to the takeover, McCall said: “He [Wray] was at Leicester on Saturday and he addressed the team on the Friday before the news was announced and I talked to him on Sunday morning like I always do after the match. Nigel is going to be a very visible supporter. 

“Everyone in the squad has the most enormous respect for Nigel, a great affection for him, but they were relieved to know that he is going to (still) be around all the time. He was around all the time in the last ten years that I have been here. He comes to our captain’s practice, comes to the games, comes to the changing room after the match and those things will continue.

“It’s newish [the takeover] and I don’t think I am going to be seeing all that money. There are obviously plans to rebuild the stadium properly, plans to put a high-performance centre down there at some point. All of those things are in the future but for now, it is really business as normal.”

The fresh investment in the club is a reward for the loyalty shown in Saracens by key players such as Maro Itoje and Owen Farrell, who opted to stick by the Londoners and play Championship matches rather than quit for a higher standard of rugby elsewhere following the salary cap scandal punishment. 

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“That was the most pleasing thing. What happened with that was just the amount of loyalty shown by everybody, to be honest, the fans, the staff, the players. We are where we are now and rather than talking about all those things now, we would much rather not. We’d much rather look forward and talk about the future.” 

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J
JPM 54 minutes ago
Forget Ireland, the All Blacks face the real alpha of Europe next

Unfortunately you don't know anything about French rugby, coaches and players but still making a lot of assumptions and judgements to push your prefabricated and simplistic point of view that Dupont is manipulating everything and is a bad guy. I am not a NZ rugby specialist and wouldn't dare make such theories about what is going on within the ABs team. Therefore my advice to you is to do like Dupont and stay humble when you don't know all the background of the issues !!!


Firstly if you knew a bit of Galthié, he is not the type of coach who is going to ask advice to his players and even his captain about team selection. He is as stubborn as you...


Second Ramos has played a lot of times as 10 with Toulouse and therefore Dupont (in particular when Ntamack is injured and unfortunately it has often happened recently and for long periods). He even played 10 during the last 3 games of the 2024 6N and this was far better performance than the first two games with Jalibert as 10.


Thirdly Jalibert lacked of respect to a La Rochelle player so your theory is once again out.


Fourth as I explained to you Galthié went for a 6-2 bench and Jalibert can only play 10 which doesn't fit that plan. Furthermore as 15 Buros is better under high balls than Ramos and everybody is prepared for a tactical kicking game.


So you can blame Galthié for a lot of things (as you clearly enjoy doing at the end of your post and you should be very happy as an AB fan) but certainly not Dupont. Sorry once more for your conspiracy theory.


And don't worry about potential disharmony in the French team; they are excellent mates around their captain. Jalibert is well known in the French rugby circles to have not a strong character (and we saw that in the WC quarter finals as he is very nervous in any decisive international game unlike Ntamack and Ramos as for his late penalty kick vs England this year).


In conclusion enjoy the game tmrw night. It is good that the ABs are very upset; we should watch a great game of rugby. I hope for running rugby and not too much kicking. With 5 key players injured on our side (Ntamack, Baille, Atonio, Cros and Penaud) and 2 on your side I and various French fans see you as favourites. I obviously hope for another result.


If you are interested you can read a good article in the Guardian on the subject of France-NZ games.

92 Go to comments
K
KB 56 minutes ago
The 'one difference' between Boks and the back-to-back All Blacks

Consistency hasnt been there they have many great players SA were also not unbeaten in the 2023 WC - NZ were in 2015 WC McCaw and Carter Nonu and Smith - SA did not have those Marque players in those postions in 2019 or 2023 - I wouldnt rank them ahead of the 20I5 ABs - They clocked up 60 points against France in the QF - Furthermore I do not believe for one moment SA won 2023 fairly no way - they were so favoured it became obvious that behind the scenes SA the nation bought the title - Their last 3 matches were won by a solitary point there were many contentious decisions that went their way that it became obvious it wasnt coincidence - Sport has been hijacked by a satanic cult just as is Politics

Some players coaches officials and sponsors are involved - they know who they are - its called Freemasonry - any sport that allows betting is corrupt - its not all about money either for these parasites its also about control - Lots of American NFL players have spoken openly about games being scripted - Football is also rigged Referees have been caught on film showing freemason hand signs - The 95 RWC final ranks as the highest and most obvious attempt at cheating There was no way SA were going to allow NZ to gate crash Nelson Mandelas reunification party - NZ were so good they had to posion almost the entire team to get a 3 point win - a Hollywood Movie ( theres your Red Flag ) was made about SAs triumph called Invictus


William Henley wrote a poem called Invictus


It starts


Out of the night that covers me BLACK ( All Blacks ) as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever GODS maybe for my unconquerable Soul ...( Olan says INVICTUS is an evil Malevolent entity who corrupted the Titans ... this is Mandelas double meaning speech ( hes a fraud ) - of thanks for helping overcome SA's adversary NZ - There is only ONE true God Yahuah - Only a false god would be complicit in Cheating Corruption and Harming others to win a RWC for a sick and sinful Nation ) the poem ends with


I am the CAPTAIN of my soul


SA will forever bear the stain of guilt and disgrace over their involvement in poisoning the ABs a day before the 95 RWC Final

12 Go to comments
C
CO 1 hour ago
Forget Ireland, the All Blacks face the real alpha of Europe next

I cannot believe that you don't think the French rugby team coach and captain are not discussing putting Jalibert on the bench in favour of Duponts club teammate that doesn't even play at 10.


This is a terrible, massive insult to a 10 and I'm sure Dupont would also be very enraged if benched for a player that doesn't even play halfback.


A good captain would've insisted to the coach that it was an idea of madness and either select Jalibert or replace him with another 10 if you want him to be reserve.


Jalibert may not be the world's finest tacklers but that's often not a tens main strength that the loose forwards and second five cover. An intercept pass is never great but they happen.


When any player is playing for his club then it's club first, respect doesn't need to be shown to opposition players simply because they're internationals.


Who exactly are you claiming Jalibert hasn't respected? If it's Toulouse international players then it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this bench demotion out.


The outcome of selecting Jalibert to the bench and he then throwing his croissants out the window of the team bus immediately prior to playing the Allblacks is a disaster that will be team disharmony as any team mates of Jalibert are in a state of anger and revolt so a performance that will be sub optimal against a team that is thirsting for revenge against France.


I don't know about you but the Allblacks are very upset they've lost twice in a row to France and want to put out a statement performance so this preparation by Galthie of creating havoc looks to me like a coach that is clueless.

92 Go to comments
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