By all accounts the 2014/15 competition was an extremely positive and fruitful one for Saracens as they took home the spoils in the A League, the LV Cup and of course finally got their hands on the Aviva Premiership Title after last year’s agony.
Mark McCall hasn’t shaken up his squad too much in fact the numbers of incoming and outgoing players are the lowest in the Aviva Premiership, however this is a positive and not a negative according to their Director of Rugby;
"I think, broadly speaking, the age profile of our squad is a good age profile. We've got some good young players who have established themselves around the team who are 23 or 24 years old. Then we've got some younger ones coming behind that. At the top end we've got some really experienced players who set a magnificent example to the youngsters, so I think we have a good balance."
"Like all we are going to have to be sensible and clever with how we utilise our squad, this year there are 9 Premiership matches during the 6 nations period as well. Overall our squad is a good squad, I think that we have good depth and we will need everybody.”
Of course there will be one very noticeable absentee out wide as David Strettle has headed to France however in Nathan Earle Saracens have a young man with huge potential to step into the dynamic finishing role. Nathan was a 2014 IRB Junior Player of the Year nominee and had it not been for a nasty achilles injury would have started to show us what he is made of during last season’s competition. Elsewhere this will be the season in which we see Maro Itoje continue to flourish alongside Ben Spencer was outstanding whenever he put on the shirt last year.
“What we proved to ourselves last year is that you need to be resilient and you need to be able to cope with the odd set back here and there and when your momentum comes you have got to take advantage of it.”
Mark McCall is well aware that last season not everything went according to plan however they ended up with the big prize regardless. The lessons that they have learned from their bumps in the road will have fuelled their belief heading into this arduous season and if things aren't all plain sailing again they know that they can be ready when it comes to the crunch.
The long and the short of it is from a Saracens perspective is that I don’t expect too much to change between their 2014/15 and 2015/16 campaigns. They have maintained strong continuity in terms of personnel and are enjoying doing things the 'Saracens way'. Saracens' brand of rugby isn't everyone’s cup of tea however that doesn't bother them one jot for last season they showed that it is effective and ultimately it can win them silverware.
Players In - Samuela Vunisa from Zebre, Michael Rhodes from Stormers, Maro Itoje Promoted from Academy & Joel Conlon from Exeter Chiefs
Players Out - Eoin Sheriff to London Irish, David Strettle to Clermont Auvergne, James Johnston to Wasps & Thretton Palamo to London Welsh (Season Loan)
