Saracens will play the 2020/21 season in the Championship, but two of their star players have been urged to leave
The reigning champions were relegated due to financial irregularities, and will play in England’s second tier next year. Now, some of their best players have been urged to leave for Super Rugby, the Southern Hemisphere’s top club competition.
For a while, it has been rumoured that Saracens’ stars could be offloaded on loan deals to Super Rugby sides. According to reports, Sarries are said to be keen on the idea.
Saracens head coach Mark McCall admitted he has spoken to Chiefs (and incumbent Lions) coach Warren Gatland about sending some of his best pros down under. Loan deals could bolster the North London club’s finances, while ensuring star players experience top level rugby ahead of next year’s Lions tour.
The current Saracens side has six players in it who were also part of the 2017 Lions setup: the Vunipola brothers, Jamie George, Elliot Daly, Maro Itoje and England captain Owen Farrell.
Farrell and Itoje were part of the Saracens squad crowned European champions in 2019. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)And it is Itoje and Farrell who have now been urged to head to Super Rugby. Speaking on the Aotearoa Rugby Pod, Bryn Hall (Crusaders) and James Parsons (Blues) called on Itoje and Farrell to head to Super Rugby. Parsons said:
“Bring guys like that [Farrell and Itoje] over, that would be great for our comp.
“It would be great for players, as well, to test themselves against guys like that. [The] Chiefs will be really wrapped.”
Echoing these sentiments, Hall said:
“I’d love to see it. I’d love to see Itoje. I love watching him play and, even the likes of Owen Farrell and the calibre of those guys coming into our competition, especially moving forward, with the possibility of us not playing South African teams or anything like that, having the calibre of those kind of players coming and playing with us, it’s only going to add to our competition.”
The Sarries boys may well head to New Zealand – travel and access to the country permitting – for a month-long stint that would see them play three to four games and getting up to speed for the South Africa tour.
