Hard to see who can catch Saracens
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It's hard to predict whether this will be the start of a period of dominance for Saracens but their capacity to produce teams capable of playing at the highest level, as they did against Sale Sharks to win their sixth Premiership title last weekend, is a credit to them.
It is also hard to ignore, because it is difficult to see who is going challenge Saracens as the major force in English club rugby. Previously, it was Exeter who pushed them hardest. The Chiefs had a big enough threat up front, and the backs to finish their chances, as they showed before losing 37-34 in the epic 2019 final before the Saracens salary cap scandal.
The strength of Saracens is their team-first culture, and their ability to get back to the top this season tells us that it is still there. What it also tells us is that someone who helped to create that culture, Alex Sanderson, has helped to oversee Sale's rise to become their main rivals this season.
Sale are a team that builds real pressure, and that's why they got close to Saracens at Twickenham. However, you felt that it was unlikely they would get far enough ahead to shake Saracens – and that's the way it played out. After Sale had scored through Bevan Rodd to take a 25-23 second-half lead they really needed to score again, because that was their moment to take the initiative and turn up the heat.
There was the sense that if Sale did not take it, then Saracens would be open to any opportunity, and would make it count. They have become an all-court side who can score from anywhere, because they are so clinical, whether it is from deep, or close-in. The late Saracens tries by Elliot Daly and Ivan van Zyl that took the game out of Sale's reach proved the point.
The only danger for Saracens is if a number of players all left the club at the same time. They are losing a great player in Max Malins, who gave a magical performance in the final before joining Bristol. They have been very astute to get him to move to Ashton Gate next season but, given the machine that Saracens are, I expect them to recover pretty quickly. With Saracens it is usually a case of ‘one goes out, one comes in'.
Malins has played his way back into the England team after Eddie Jones dropped him because he's a great talent, and he has proved that through his form for Saracens this season. He has the attitude of a good professional – and you can tell that from the way he has risen to the challenge.
As for Owen Farrell and the flyhalf debate, I think the Premiership final win has left him where he was when Steve Borthwick came in as England coach – which is in the box-seat. Borthwick chose Farrell at the outset by making him England captain. If that selection decision had been different, then it would have changed the whole England dynamic.
Borthwick has given Marcus Smith a bit of a chance, but if you go with Farrell in the first instance, then it follows that you will back him. Farrell has had a few periods of poor form, but he has never been left out by England for a long period.
Farrell's recent England form has been about 6/10, like most of the team, but for Saracens at the business end of the season it's been more like 10/10 – and it puts him ahead of George Ford and Smith going into the World Cup warm-up internationals.
So, how far off are Sanderson's team? In Ford they have a fly-half who could be around for at least another four seasons, so that gives Sale their coach-captain on the pitch in the same way that Saracens have with Farrell.
Sale also have Tom Curry in their pack, but otherwise there are not lots of household names – which does not matter because, if they keep making an impact in the way they did in the Premiership final, they soon will be.
Saracens were the pre-play-off champions, having been top of the league all season, and they proved in the last 15 minutes that there was a gap between them and Sale – and an even bigger gap with the rest of the Premiership.
Saracens are not as strong now as they were before the salary cap cut, because previously if they had sent a second team down to Bath they would probably have won, rather than concede 60 points in defeat.
That said, Mark McCall's continued success at Saracens won him the Premiership director of rugby award for 2023, and they are deserved winners because they were the best club by a good stretch.
Would I be surprised if Saracens won the title again next season? Not at all, especially as Leicester are losing two more coaches to England, and Bath have too big a gap to close even though they finished the season well.
The Premiership has become a bit like the Six Nations by dividing into three tiers. You have the top three of Saracens, Sale, and Leicester, which is followed by the middle group of seven teams with not a lot between them, and then Newcastle as tailenders.
The clubs in the table below the top three must find a way to compete, and the only way to do that with the salary cap cut is by building from within by bringing players through. With the fear of relegation gone I expected more development of that sort than we have seen.
At the moment, if we say Saracens are five-dimensional, and Sale are two-dimensional, then the rest are one-dimensional. How can you expect to win if you're passing oneout and being very predictable? The same applies if you are unpredictable, like Northampton, but not good enough to stop yourselves conceding a shed-load of points.
The middle tier Premiership clubs have to accept that in rugby union you get what you deserve a lot of time. That means Saracens deserve to be loving life and should come into the new season full of energy. For the rest, it is about finding ways to get to their level.
