Mark McCall lauds Saracens' squad-bonding trips

Saracens rugby director Mark McCall lavished praise on his club's squad-bonding trips for success in this season's European Champions Cup and Aviva Premiership.

Having won both the tournaments last season, Saracens will lock horns with Clermont Auvergne in the finals of the Champions Cup after defeating Glasgow Warriors and Munster in the play-offs.

Even in the Aviva Premiership, the Allianz Park outfit are currently at third position with 16 wins from 21 games and are in contention for a home semi-final if they manage to beat table toppers Wasps at Ricoh Arena in their final league encounter.

Prior to their clash against Bristol, Saracens headed for a 36-hour trip to Barcelona to help their team building abilities and McCall believes it had benefitted the team.

"We've done these kind of trips a lot over the last two years. The players look forward to them and get to spend some tome together away from the club," director of rugby McCall said.

"We believe that over the course of time it's a really strong way of making the relationships they have even closer and even tighter. If you get some short-term pain for long-term gain from that, then that's okay.

"If you watched how our players defended in our 22 against Munster - we made 92 tackles in our 22 - you start to get a sense of the togetherness, the connections that exit and the fight that they have.

"Those things don't just happen, they happen by spending a lot of time together at the training ground and going through days like this together, but also seeing each other socially. They've worked really hard down the years."

Former Springboks scrumhalf Neil de Kock, who played his final game against Bristol before retirement echoed McCall's views.

"We don't get everything right and sometimes these trips go wrong - certain parts of them!

"But they were brought about to create social capital and to bond the guys. It's not a stag do, it's not a jolly.

"Yes we have a couple of drinks, but we also make an effort to bond guys who wouldn't normally bond outside of work.

"I'm a married man with three kids, so there's no chance I'm having coffee or playing Playstation with a 22-year-old.

"But on these trips I have an opportunity to see what they get up to - which is quite scary! It's great because we get to see what makes each other tick."