Club: Saracens
Last season: 4th
Odds for the title: 10/1
Season opener: away v Wasps, 15 September
Ins
Chris Jack (Canterbury Crusaders), Matias Aguero (Viadana), Gordon Ross (Castres), Edd Thrower (Wasps), Brent Russell (Western Province), Guthrie Hall (Natal Sharks), Francisco Leonelli (Glasgow), Sakiusa Matadigo (Nantes)
Outs
Simon Raiwalui, Ben Russell (both Racing Metro), Ben Broster (Scarlets), Thomas Castaignede (retired), Shane Byrne, Tevita Vaikona (both released), Ben Johnston (Brive), Ross Laidlaw (Plymouth Albion), Tomas de Vedia (London Irish)
The player preview
Scrum-half Neil de Kock is rightfully excited about the megastars soon to arrive at
Vicarage Road
How’s the side shaping up?
Pretty good, we’ve got one or two minor niggles but, from an injury perspective, we’re in good shape.
Last season: bit of a let down in the end wasn’t it?
Yeah, it was a disappointing end to what I thought was a decent season for us. This season we want to try and retain the consistency and carry it on through from start to finish, but it’s going to be tough. The thing with the Guinness Premiership now is that there are no easy wins and every team is fantastic.
Few decent signings at Saracens…
We have made some good signings, but we’ve also lost, for whatever reason, seven or eight crucial players. But if you look at Chris Jack, it’s a massive signing for us. It’s great for us to have a guy with his talent and experience in the pack. Brent Russell too, he’s very exciting, as is Francisco Leonelli. Then we’ve got some younger guys like Sakiusa Matadigo, a Fijian flanker, and Guthrie Hall at number eight.
Is it unsettling making so many changes?
I don’t think so. We’ve had a long pre-season together and they’ve all fitted in well. They’ll have more of a positive effect on the team than a negative one.
What about Eddie Jones, seen much of him?
No, I think he’s with the Springboks at the moment isn’t he? But when the World Cup is over we’ll see a lot more of him and we’re all looking forward to working with him.
What about goals?
It’s all about the week-in, week-out. There’s no use starting off like a house on fire and then after five weeks falling off the bus. For us, it’s about the consistency and playing good rugby while we’re doing it.
Who else do you fancy?
You’ve always got to put Leicester and Wasps up there, but I really like the look of Worcester with a new coach in Mike Ruddock and then look at Rico Gear and Greg Rawlinson – they’ve made some massive signings.
How excited are you about getting going – scale of one to ten?
About a ten I reckon!
Supporters’ prediction: 4th. “Chris Jack and Brent Russell are going to be massive for us this year. Added to last year’s squad, we’ve got a brilliant chance of competing with the likes of Wasps and Leicester again.” Alison Thomas, London
Rucked prediction: 5th. Strongly fancy Saracens to sneak a cup this year, but will probably just miss out on a top four slot due to the re-emergence of Sale. Although we could be – and probably are – wrong about this!
