r/saracens

Bristol Bears have created a new NFL-style post-match media access area for journalists to speak to their players/coaches immediately after matches. That comes off the back of Sarries' Brendan Venter changing his job title to "wine consultant" so he can duck press conferences.

I thought this was an interesting take in the article: "There are important principles attached to this. The Prem says it wants to reach new audiences, and keep the one it has.

"It’s not a journalist’s job to sell tickets, but the coverage from TV, radio, newspapers and others spreads the word.

"Bristol’s efforts contrasted positively with a week of Saracens lamely defending their director of rugby Brendan Venter’s aversion to media interviews.

"Venter has relented after external advice – he was interviewed by TNT Sports before Sunday’s match against Sale Sharks, and will take a midweek press conference as befits the senior coaching voice at his club.

"With Saracens rarely selling out their 10,000-capacity StoneX Stadium in north London, it looks like they need some help – and Venter as an outstandingly interesting and experienced character should play his part."

Do people think more clubs should/will follow Bristol's lead?

Forgive me for anything I've missed or got wrong - I'm not rewatching that and I am a bit worked up after that. We've bought back the antics and attitude of the old Saracens but kept the mediocraty of the last few seasons. Unless we win a lot, this season is going to explode.

Good Week

Sione Va'enuku - Carried hard, hit hard, got a try and did an incredible offload - he can be proud of that debut. I'm still not sure about him making the step up; he gained ground but didn't seem to ever threaten to break the line, the ball was slow and the distribution pretty poor - maybe that's down to Sale's defence being pretty damn good.

Maro Itoje - This will be another when I say nice things and then have an angry hot take. I take him for granted and it seems the commentators do too (saying he needs a good start to the season to keep his place is madly disrepectful). He showed up in some huge moments, with some great turn overs and was a constant nuisance in the ruck. He is a great player and a great leader, I'd love to vote for him as prime minister one day, but I don't like him as captain - I think he lacks the snarl or people skills that great leaders have. He's Robshaw not Hartley to speak in England terms.

TNT Sports - I wish there was another way to watch rugby at times because they/Craig Doyle are so smug and self important at the best of times. When they've thrown their weight around, got the interview and made our management look a bit silly it becomes a bit unbearable. At least Ugo and Danny weren't there.

Bad Week

Fergus Burke - I feel bad that I didn't give him enough credit when he was flying because he is a quality player, but that was awful yesterday. It's not just the passing in touch or failed loop passes, the missed kicks or the incredibly conservative kicks to touch...My main issue was that our entire backline was shut down by the blitz defence and there was no point he thought to chip or even just kick for territory, I can't recall him trying to pass over it or try and move his backs about. It's back to my great player not a great 10 rant.

Theo Dan - He carried well, but the lineout spluttered and he got hurt. Worse for him is that Jibulu looked really good.

The bench - Not the impact we would have wanted - Charlie bought some effort, Earl showed his class and I saw some monster for Martin - but Malins was exposed again and the overall impact was not what we needed.

Sorry it's a bit of a rant this week but that is where I'm at. There are a lot of great players in the team and they're all good but they're not the sum of their parts.

Also - edgy view - I didn't like the kit on the players.

Saracens 17 Sale 21

Well I’m not entirely sure what to say about that beyond “what a dreadful performance”. Credit due to Sale, they were well up for it and very physical in defence and unlike us they looked like they’d run some strike moves in practice.

I genuinely can’t understand the gameplan here. I can’t remember a single strike move off first phase. Every phase was one up runners into the meat grinder of Sale’s bigger pack. Zero shape, zero guile, we couldn’t even score against 13. It seemed like we were just waiting for Williams to do something. We have Daly and Malins as playmaking 15 options, why are they not being utilised to get the ball to Bracken in particular who finally got his chance 75mins in, lo and behold he makes things happen. Our defence isn’t good enough for our attack to be this toothless. O’Flaherty’s try was an absolute howler too, dogshit kick by Ford, no one challenging in the air and we may as well have escorted him to the try line. Lastly, I get the need for territory but kicking two box kicks in the last two minutes when you are trailing is simply not good enough. Abject all over really, I can’t remember being this frustrated with a performance since the Vunipolas last home match a few years back, also against Sale. Only people to come out with some credit are Maro and Jacken.

Bristol visit next week let’s hope we experience a similar 180 in performance levels because we’ll need it against a team that have really impressed in the first two weeks and will be desperate to end a 10 game losing streak. I hope BV will be true to his word and hold players accountable because there should be some changes after that.