Quins and Saracens: Picking apart the two horse race
Thursday 29 December 2011
At this the half-way point of the Aviva Premiership season, the league finds itself clearly stratified. Sitting ascended above the floundering bottom four clubs and the veritable primordial soup of the crowded mid-table, two teams have emerged as consistent contenders for top spot and the bragging rights and home playoff semi-final that come with it: Last year's champions and victors in Tuesday's Big Game Saracens, a ruthless machine set up to win at all costs, and Harlequins, the young pretenders to the crown. Both have in common a tendency to have played bridesmaids rather than the bride in recent times, but why is it that these two have streaked clear come the half-way point, and here's how to place a bet on them?
In the case of Saracens, their success is borne of ruthlessness, efficiency and the sheer grit and will to win required to gain victory in any way possible. Take their performances against the Ospreys over back to back Heineken cup weekends. On centre stage in Wembley's corporate bowl, they turned on the class and blew the Ospreys away, a side unbeaten at the time in the Heineken. Next week, down came the iron curtain and another win, no less impressively, was ground out on the road at the Liberty Stadium. They're champions, and champions do that against the best teams on the biggest stages, such as in Aviva Premiership finals. Hence, champions.
Now, building this sort of culture of victory isn't at all easy, if it was, everyone could do it, but Saracens seem to have it mastered. The stereotype that this rebirth is built firmly on foundations of South African gold isn't a million miles wide of the mark, but it isn't exactly 100% correct either. There is a distinct South African twang to the squad (be they England qualified or not) but mixed in are bright young things such as Jamie George and Owen Farrell, surely future England regulars if they continue to gain big game experience, as well as established flair players such as David Strettle. Their squad rolls deep enough to impose multiple ways of running and winning a game, be it through tyrannical control or audacious flair. Whilst their preferred and at times unattractive style won't gain them the purist's plaudits, (the numerous box kicks and professional ( ¦ahem) clock management displayed at HQ on Tuesday were almost enough to drive this particular writer to drink), It cannot be denied that they are a force that is probably here to stay.
What of their recently vanquished young pretenders then? Harlequins: South London's favourite multi-coloured dilettantes, a team yet to lose away from home in all competitions this season in a run stretching back to a demolition of Leeds Carnegie in April and including Munster, Leicester, Stade Francais and Toulouse. Impressive, but they seemed a lot more mortal in the pressure cooker atmosphere at Twickenham on Tuesday. As it may have done against Toulouse at the Stoop a few weeks ago, the pressure got to them. Unlike against the French however, they weren't totally outgunned (just outmuscled at times), but plagued by poor decision making and over-ambition, problems that seemed to be behind them until now. Those two blips aside, they have been imperious in attack. Apart from Saracens, no one has been able to live with them for too long. Those who dismissed them as fortunate to be league leaders after the world cup period have been silenced by impressive display after impressive display despite all comers returning to full strength. Having only lost once in the league, their position at the top of the league is not up for debate, they deserve it.
Behind this fluidity and razzmatazz lies a culture not dissimilar to that present at Saracens, but is a culture constructed entirely differently. Quins' success has not come about quickly; rather it has been built over a time scale stretching as far back as their relegation in 2005. Reinvestment in youth in their sabbatical from the top flight (Robshaw, Brown, Guest, Robson and Turner Hall, all regulars and prospective England stars, were given their break in that season in the wilderness) has continued upon return into the top flight with players like Joe Marler, George Lowe, Seb Stegmann, Sam Smith and Luke Wallace making a name for themselves as regulars despite only being in their early 20s. This, plus a few calculated gambles (Nick Easter, England number 8 and one time England captain was signed from Orrell- remember them?) and the opportunity to rebuild around a couple of star players (Andre Vos, Andrew Mehrtens and subsequently Kiwi maestro Nick Evans) has allowed a young squad to grow together in the right environment. This unity has bred success (in the form of their Amlin Cup victory snatched from the jaws of defeat last may) which in turn breeds unity which then breeds further success. The squad is young but is learning all the time and will eventually acquire the level of savoir-faire shown by Saracens on Tuesday that is required to win on the biggest stages of the game. For these reasons, it looks like Quins' culture, fuelled by unity and belief in each other, is probably here to stay too.
So in terms of philosophy we're talking chalk and cheese. The newly crowned hard-nosed champions who have been there and done it as supposed to the dynamic, ever threatening young Quins side. It's a break from the Leicester/Wasps dominance of the noughties, but this is refreshing and that's what the English game needs. The big game may not have been pretty, but it had all the intensity of the premiership final rehearsal that it looks set to be. Judging by the atmosphere and interest generated by the and in the 82000 in attendance (a record for a European club game, by the way) and the amount of young English players putting their hand up in England's time of need, it looks to be good for the national game too. The one time bridesmaids have become the brides and if these two keep slugging it out as they have done this season, then English rugby is in for one hell of a decade and I, for one, am looking forward to it.
