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Saracens issue Michael Jordan-like Farrell warning to Harlequins
By Liam Heagney
Saracens hooker Jamie George has issued a warning to Harlequins, claiming that skipper Owen Farrell has been wielding an intense Michael Jordan-like focus on the squad ahead of this Saturday’s eagerly awaited Gallagher Premiership semi-final between the rival London clubs. Jordan was the legendary Chicago Bulls basketballer whose career story was told with great insight in the 2020 documentary series, The Last Dance.
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The docuseries culminated in episode ten when focusing on June 1998 when Jordan and the Bulls took on the Utah Jazz in the NBA finals looking for a sixth championship and a perfect winning conclusion to The Last Dance.
With Saracens now restored to the business end of the Premiership season following their single campaign in the Championship following automatic relegation for salary cap breaches, they are now seeking their sixth title win following their 2011 breakthrough success.
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They won 17 games and drew another in their 24-match regular season prior to this weekend’s playoffs and George has now likened the intensity that Farrell is bringing to proceedings at Saracens as similar to what unfolded in Chicago with Jordan leading their title challenge 24 years ago.
“He is everything. Everything,” said George in response to RugbyPass when asked at Tuesday’s media briefing about the influence currently being wielded by Farrell, who has quickly hit top form despite missing a large chunk of this season with back-to-back ankle operations.
“I have spoken about Owen before. Just watch The Last Dance, just watch Michael Jordan approaching that last playoff game, that is where you find Owen. He is driving the team, he is coaching the team, he is leading by example, he is talking unbelievably well. It’s the whole package really.”
Elsewhere at the media briefing, George added: “It’s sometimes funny, a criticism I can often make of Saracens is that good is never good enough and sometimes we have to sit back and say, ‘Actually, some things can be just good’.
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“It’s probably the right way you want to be rather than being in a position where you are criticising the entire time or letting things slide. We are on top of it and when you have got Owen Farrell as a captain, more often than not our standards are going to be pretty high.”
After getting demoted to the second tier, Saracens watched Harlequins win the Premiership title in their absence and being away from the limelight is something that has been touched on in the build-up to Saturday’s appetising semi-final.
“It has always been a big motivator for us, when we first got relegated we would speak about coming back, making sure that we show everyone what we are truly about, all those kinds of conversations have been happening, they were happening at the time.
“Now we are in a position where we are here now and we are reflecting on those times saying, ‘Look, we spoke about this, we want to make the most of this opportunity, it is everything we wanted over the last 18 months to two years, so it’s the time to put your hand up and show what we are about’.
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“The atmosphere around the group, the buy-in from each individual, I’m not just talking about the 23 guys that have been named to play on Saturday, I am talking about there is a different feel to the intensity of the non-23 and we have a massive emphasis on that here.
“That is always an indicator of where we are at, how on it are the non-23 guys. I have got to say they have been exemplary, as they have been for the last few years as well. The feeling is pretty good.”
