SARACENS BOSS MARK McCall is not someone who overreacts but he understandably took a strong line in the wake of his side’s 68-10 hammering at the hands of Bath just after Christmas.

Sarries had suffered an early red card and an injury to key man Theo McFarland, while McCall had rotated his starting XV for the trip to the Rec, but the manner in which his team crumbled to concede 10 tries was still alarming.

Experienced England internationals like Jamie George, Maro Itoje, and Ben Earl were all in the team despite the changes.

This humbling hadn’t exactly been coming, with Saracens having beaten Harlequins, the Bulls, Stade Français, and Northampton in the preceding weeks. 

Rather than point to those good performances, McCall took the somewhat uncharacteristic approach of challenging his players in public.

“When these thunderbolts come along, it’s how you respond to it which defines the rest of the season,” said McCall.

“The experience is ugly and horrible, but it’s how you respond to something like this which could make or break the season.”

That the measured McCall was even considering that the Bath defeat could break his team’s season said it all. And he would have been pleased with the initial response from his squad last weekend as Saracens earned a bonus-point victory at home to Bristol.

This Saturday, the three-time Champions Cup winners will be at Thomond Park aiming to build on that win over Bristol with another strong performance against Munster.

Saracens’ most recent title in this competition was in 2019 before their fall from grace and the Premiership due to their breaches of English rugby’s salary cap.

Having returned to the top flight after one season in the Championship, Sarries were quickly back in contention as they lost the final in their first campaign back in the Premiership before winning it the following season. They were narrowly beaten by eventual champions Northampton in last season’s semi-finals.

Saracens boss Mark McCall. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

McCall’s side reached the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup upon their return in 2022/23, losing to eventual winners La Rochelle, before a poor pool campaign saw them exit away to Bordeaux in last season’s Round of 16.

So they mean business this time around, with their wins over the Bulls and Stade Français last month leaving them on nine match points, just behind Northampton in Pool 3.

Though McCall’s team has changed since their heyday in this competition, with the likes of Owen Farrell, Billy and Mako Vunipola, and Will Skelton among the many to have moved on, there are still lots of familiar faces.

And while their style of play is a little looser and more expressive now, Sarries still use lots of rugby league-esque shapes in attack, as well as defending with aggression.

Their win over Bristol showcased some of their qualities.

In the instance below, inside centre Nick Tompkins passes short and flat to midfield partner Alex Lozowski, who looks like he will carry before playing a late circle pass to out-half Fergus Burke.

Burke offloads to fullback Elliot Daly, who sends left wing Lucio Cinti scorching towards the touchline only for the Argentina international to be stopped short.

Saracens stay composed within striking range, however, and number eight Tom Willis produces a powerful finish through some passive Bristol tackling.

Out-half Burke, who joined from the Crusaders in his native New Zealand last summer to replace Farrell, has done well so far this season with Saracens.

He is a good fit for their attacking system with its tight shapes and Burke, who qualifies for England and Scotland through his family, was the man to finish Saracens’ second try last weekend.

Tompkins plays first receiver again below, with hooker George running a short line off him as Burke darts out the back.

As Burke receives the ball from Tompkins, he shapes to pass to Lozowski on his outside but realises that opposite number Sam Worsley has been sat down by George’s line, the Sarries hooker giving him a nudge on his way through, and is now struggling to catch up onto Burke.

So the Sarries out-half dummies and darts through to score.

The reverse angle gives us a nice view of how Sarries strike here and also how George is perhaps a touch lucky to get away with his contact on Worsley ahead of the ball.

Initially, it looks like Lozowski [13 below] will be the back-door option for Tompkins, with Burke [10] starting well inside Tompkins.

But Lozowski arcs wider as Burke gets to the outside of Tompkins very late, arriving onto what is essentially a blind pass from his centre.

Saracens have long specialised in this type of late-changing attack and it’s hard for defences to adjust. In this example, Worsley appears to read what’s happening and might get to Burke only for George to bump him. But the officials are happy and the try stands.

25-year-old back row Willis – the younger brother of Toulouse flanker Jack – is in superb form for Saracens and there have been strong calls in England for him to add to his single international cap in the upcoming Six Nations.

Willis, who was Irish-qualified before being capped by England, had a season with Bordeaux after the collapse of Wasps but joined Saracens in 2023. He is now in career-best form.

His second try against Bristol was spectacular and came on the back of Itoje’s eye-catching work.

Itoje has only recently returned from the sin bin when he makes a great read of Bristol prop Ellis Genge’s inside pass, recognising that Tompkins is adjusting in onto Genge so that Itoje knows he can go for the intercept.

Itoje picks off the ball and gallops upfield into the Bristol half before throwing a lovely dummy switch pass and finally offloading to scrum-half Ivan van Zyl.

Burke, Lozowki, and Daly then pass the ball all the way wide to the right where Willis lies in wait.

The number eight has Bristol wing Noah Heward closing up on him but backs himself on the outside, stepping and fending his way past Heward.

Willis accelerates beyond opposite number Bill Mata and away into the 22.

Bristol fullback Rich Lane is the last man and Willis beats him too, getting the ball back into two hands to shape for a pass, slowing as if he might step back infield, but then hitching to accelerate again and using an underarm fend into the tackle.

Bristol will have been disappointed with their defence again but it’s an excellent finish from the in-form Willis.

He plays a key role in Sarries’ fourth try too, sniping and throwing an offload to lock Harry Wilson, who delivers a beautiful offload of his own.

Scrum-half van Zyl can draw last man Harry Byrne and send Cinti over for Saracens’ bonus-point score.

While Bristol subsequently come back into the game, Saracens seal their win with an interesting scrum play.

As we can see below, Saracens have a midfield scrum in the Bristol 22.

They set up with a vertical stack of four players – Tompkins, Burke, Lozowski, and Daly – directly behind the scrum.

Attacking teams will sometimes stack two players behind a midfield scrum but four is unusual.

It means Bristol are unsure about what they’ll have to defend as Saracens spring into action.

As it transpires, Tompkins, Burke, and Lozowski break to their right as Daly goes left.

Van Zyl hits Burke, who now has Tompkins short on his inside and Lozowski short on his outside, which helps to keep Bristol’s defence narrow.

And Burke fizzes a pass straight across the face of Lozowski to right wing Rotimi Segun, who accelerates towards the right corner but then steps back inside the overchasing Kalaveti Ravouvou.

Bristol centre James Williams tackles Segun along with Lane but when Ravouvou opts to leave the shortside after retreating, Burke is smart in picking and sniping into the corner for the fifth Sarries try.

Although this Sarries win probably didn’t tell Munster much they didn’t already know about McCall’s men, it was a timely reminder of the challenge ahead on Saturday.

While Sarries are still defensively aggressive, they aren’t as solid as they once were without the ball.

Bristol made eight linebreaks and scored four tries of their own last weekend, meaning Sarries have now conceded 40 tries in 10 Premiership games this season. Only bottom club Newcastle have conceded more tries than Saracens. Munster will have spotted lots of opportunities for themselves.

The Sarries’ lineout had a few wobbles last weekend but has generally been good, with an 88.8% success rate on their throw, compared to Munster’s 78.3%, according to Opta. George is still one of the finest throwers around. 

Their scrum, with props Rhys Carré and Marco Riccioni generally on either side of George, is also an area of solidity and their maul compares favourably with Munster’s.

Although it’s a pool game at Thomond Park, it feels a little like knock-out rugby given that a home defeat would leave Munster in trouble ahead of their trip to Northampton.

Saracens will be aiming for a third consecutive win in this Champions Cup as they go after home advantage for the knock-out stages.

This game is difficult to call but it should be an enthralling contest in Limerick.