Saracens’ kicking machine Glen Jackson is gunning for Munster and a place in the Heineken Cup. Before that though he’s got Wasps to deal with. He spoke to www.rucked.com…
How’s the Saracens’ camp?
It’s alright, we’ve just three days off which isn’t bad at all. But we’ve had a few highs and lows of late, beating Ospreys was a very good one, but being beaten by Gloucester has brought us truly back down to earth.
Isn’t a big high, always followed by a low?
I hope that’s not the case with this team. I think it was very disappointing to go out and perform like we did, maybe it was a case of Sarries living up to their underachievers tag.
It seemed like there were two different sides that played against Ospreys this season. What was the difference?
The forward pack, when they front up they’re a very good pack. It didn’t down in Cardiff but, to be fair, the Ospreys played extremely well that day, they were probably one of the best teams I’ve ever played. At home we had a bit of belief, we’d done a little bit more homework, we knew what to expect and we turned up dominated the collision area.
Did it help being written off by everyone?
It probably did a little bit, not in terms of getting ourselves up for it, but maybe Ospreys thought they could walk over us pretty easily. Maybe they were a bit complacent because we’d been written off as a team – maybe that gave us a chance.
And a full house at Vicarage Road...
Yeah, it’s a shame it’s taken this long to get one because we normally do pretty well at home, but it was good to see. Because we put in a performance perhaps some of those first timers will back again too.
A tie against Munster is your reward…
Yeah but I mean that’s the beauty of this tournament you’ve to play the best teams all the time, you either beat them here or at final – you have to meet them at some stage. Munster are a class outfit at least we’re playing close to our ground rather than at their fortress over there in Limerick – that’s a tough place to go. They’ll have a lot of confidence though, especially having beaten Gloucester, not a lot of people do that and they’ve got a lot of European pedigree.
How do you go about beating them?
They won against Gloucester as we did against Ospreys – up front with big tackles. Ronan O’Gara is the kingpin for them, we need to get some parity up front and dominate tackles – that’s the way to beat any team. It’s very tough to win if you’re going backwards. And with Munster, if they do get any ball, then O’Gara and Stringer know what to do with it and they know how to control a game.
What’s the standard of the Heineken Cup been like?
Outstanding, it’s definitely the premier club competition in the world. Our form in Europe has been good and it’s very enjoyable to play in. Every game is a bit of a knockout game and, having watched Super rugby this season, I’d say Heineken Cup rugby is definitely a lot better at the moment. Whether or not the rules are having an impact or not I don’t know, but the ability to hold onto the ball in Europe is first class, whereas there’s been a lot of turnovers in Super 14 this year.
You’ve been at Sarries a few years now, how you finding it?
It’s had its ups and down, but as a club we’re a lot more professional now, we’ve got a belief we can win games now rather than struggling against relegation. Living in London is still great too. Having a coach for more than six months has probably helped a bit too.
And Eddie Jones is about to take the helm too?
I think as a squad we’re excited about what Eddie has to offer. He took us away from relegation a few years ago and if you look at what he’s done with South Africa and other sides, you have to respect what he’s done. As players we all respect the guy and there’s certainly an element of excitement…
What do Saracens need to do to challenge the likes of Wasps and Leicester regularly?
We probably don’t have the depth of the other clubs, we’ve only really got Chris Jack when it comes to experince of Test rugby. As a squad we’re very thin if we have any injuries and you also need rest, it’s getting to be a bit of a joke over here in terms of how much rugby you’ve got to play – you can’t have the same 20 or so players playing every week. I imagine Eddie’s target will be to strengthen the squad and get more players to the level where they can step up.
Should more Saracens players be getting a look in with England?
Definitely, someone like Richard Haughton has been one of the best if not the best wings by a long way all season and there are other young guys who are young, playing well and qualified to play too. In the second row Hugh Vyvyan has been outstanding – there are a few names who can definitely step up and I’m surprised they haven’t. The Heineken Cup is the next level up from the Premiership and we’ve shown we can compete, against Ospreys we showed we could compete against what was effectively the Welsh side.
On a personal front, you keeping an eye on the European points’ scoring charts?
Erm, it’s not a goal or anything, you know where you are though. It’s more important what percentage of kicks you get rather than the amount of points, in Europe I’m right up there at the moment though. It’ll be a nice contest against Ronan, I’ve never played against him before but he’s a very talented Irish and Lions’ player.
Overall, how do you feel about your form this season?
It’s been up and down. Last year was a bit easier because sides didn’t expect us to turn up and be any good. For myself and Neil de Kock it’s been very tough and teams have fronted up to us and targeted us.
Wasps and, more importantly, Danny Cipriani this week. What do you make of him?
He’s obviously got a massive future ahead of him, but I’m not sure if that’s at ten or 15. I think probably 15 is more than likely. He’s playing well as it Riki Flutey, he’s at the heart of Wasps in terms of what he can give Cipriani at 12. His form has been outstanding, he can help out any young guy who plays ten.
What about your future, what’s the plan?
I’ve got two more years left on this contract and then I’ll be about 68 years old and it’ll be time to finish. I’m very comfortable here and looking forward to a good end to the season and a new coaching set-up.
And maybe a Heineken Cup final?
We’re good enough to make the final, we’re all excited about playing Munster and we believe we can do it. It’s a massive task, they were European champions a couple of years ago and either semi-finalists or finalists every other year. But we also heard about how tough it was going to be to beat Ospreys and we managed that…