Nobody likes us, we don’t care

English clubs are instinctively divided, but there is one topic that unites them all; their dislike of Saracens.

On the face of it the reason is obvious: the Watford-based club have blossomed after years of mediocrity and are fixtures in the upper echelons of the English game, being crowned champions last year.

Success breeds resentment.

Yet there is more to it than that. For a start, most wags do not refer to ‘Saracens Rugby Club’ anymore – instead, they only talk of ‘Innovative North London Club’, which is their preferred title in most of their press releases announcing their latest off-field initiative. Most revolve around taking the club to play their games somewhere other than their soulless Vicarage Road base, with their ‘home’ Heineken Cup Pool match against Racing Metro instead taking place in Brussels on October 20.

That in itself would not be enough, though – all players would prefer their games to be held at Wembley than Vicarage Road.

So what is it? In short it is an attitude, a demeanour, a way of rubbing people up the wrong way that has become Saracens’ hallmark. In many respects it is unfair, and it has certainly eased since the departure of the otherwise admirable Brendan Venter as Director of Rugby in December 2010.

Yet reputations stick, and Saracens are struggling to shake off a tag of being chippy at all times.

Their brand of rugby does not help; it is one that can best be described as ‘playing the percentages’.

They have a superb broken field runner in Andy Goode, a wonderful finisher in Chris Ashton and a demonic, game-breaking hooker in Schalk Brits, but they have not scored a try in 260 minutes of rugby. Instead, they rely on the boot of Owen Farrell, who has come in for criticism despite being the leading light of English rugby.

It is uninspiring rugby, a game that rarely sets the pulse racing but is effective due to the brutality of a wonderful pack.

Ultimately, though, Saracens do not care what others think of them. That is in part a choice, as the siege mentality has proved a fine asset to them in recent times. Yet when no-one likes you, sometimes the best course of action is to accept it and beat them anyway.

“I think that if you are popular among the other teams then you probably aren’t doing very well,” said Director of Rugby Mark McCall with a devilish grin. “But I don’t know what other people think of us, you have to ask them. We can only say it as it is from within, and if you ask the 44 players we have then I would say we have a happy bunch.

“If they are happy and their families are happy then that’s a sign we are doing things pretty well.

“We do try to be different but there is a deal here, and that is that we work very hard. This is as good a set-up as I have been involved in, and I have been at a few clubs. Our group flick that switch to work time very well indeed.

“And I think we do want to push the boundaries, push the brand. The choice for us is whether to play in front of 5,000 in Watford or 30,000 in Brussels and the players wanted to go to Belgium, unsurprisingly.

“They can’t wait for it. It is something that the club works very hard at behind the scenes – making sure we do something a little bit different to everyone else.”

But it is phrases such as ‘pushing the brand’ that grate. In many ways it is hard not to wonder if some of the resentment of Saracens is down to jealousy. In modern-day professional rugby they have made light of low attendances, thanks largely to owner Nigel Wray.

They will move to a new stadium in Copthall in February, but the power of ‘the brand’ is such that they have just agreed a €10.06m naming-rights deal with Allianz, a move that other English clubs can only dream of.

In many respects, everyone else is playing catch-up, and that goes for off-field measures too. Two years ago the captain, Steve Borthwick, missed the Heineken Cup launch to go to Oktoberfest with his team-mates. That was widely criticised, but at the end of that Premiership-winning season the players said that the time they spent bonding over beer and bratwurst played a huge part in their success. The trust placed in the players is paying off.

“I think the bonds are very strong,” says Borthwick when asked why the team spirit appears greater at Saracens than other clubs.

“The club works hard to make sure people are looked after. Not just the players but their families and others in the organisation. People enjoy being there, I enjoy being there and we enjoy being with each other. I enjoy going to training and that will hold us in good stead. I pay very little attention to any criticism that comes out way, I only concentrate on what we do. We just want to get better and improve, and I am really proud of everyone at the club.

“What I hope others think of Saracens is that we are a team that works incredibly hard for each other, a club that is constantly trying to push things in and around the game and push boundaries.

“I would like to think they see us as a group that is humble and continues to work very hard to achieve things.”

Some of that is undoubtedly true – Saracens certainly will continue to improve, but whether they do so with humility is more open to debate. Regaining their Premiership title is the principal goal but the desire to improve on last season’s quarter-final exit in the Heineken Cup will be strong.

A pool with Munster, Racing Metro and Edinburgh will provide the stiffest of tests, however.

“The games against Munster will be key,” acknowledges Borthwick. “The other teams in the Pool will be formidable but Munster have an excellent record in this competition.

“We have been in the Heineken Cup in the last couple of years and we have learnt from our experiences. We are hoping that we can do better after reaching the quarter-finals last season.”

Yet rarely as an English club ventures to Fortress Thomond, most of Saracens’ fellow countrymen will be supporting the men in red rather than a team that cannot help but split opinion.