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Saracens announce 2021 Super Rugby friendly to be staged at Tottenham
Saracens have come up with a plum alternative to their annual use of a large football stadium every year for a Gallagher Premiership fixture, the soon-to-be relegated Londoners arranging a friendly versus the Super Rugby Stormers next season at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
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Having staged matches at Wembley and the London Stadium in recent years, Saracens were poised to welcome London rivals Harlequins to the new Tottenham ground last March only for the fixture to fall victim to the coronavirus pandemic.
However, rather than allow their impending season in the Championship impact on their multi-year partnership with Spurs for once-a-year use of that facility, Saracens believe a 2021 fixture against a South African side potentially containing a number of World Cup-winning Springboks will be a popular attraction for fans.
Saracens chairman Neil Golding said: “We see this game with the Stormers, alongside our recent player announcements, as strong indicators of the club’s high ambitions.
“Despite the challenges that the club has experienced over this past season, everybody at the club (the board, the players, coaches and support staff at the training ground, all commercial staff and all those supporting our considerable community programmes) is focused on setting our own high standards.
Saracens is pleased to announce our intention to play a high-profile game against @THESTORMERS at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in 2021.#TogetherSaracens ???
— Saracens Rugby Club (@Saracens) July 23, 2020
“We want to continue to provide our supporters with fantastic experiences and lasting memories and a game against the Stormers at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium would certainly deliver that.”
Saracens have managed to keep the majority of their Test level contingent on board at the club despite the drop into the English second-tier league, the promise of some high profile exhibition matches one of the reasons for their collective decision to stay on.
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Team boss Mark McCall said: “We have a history of filling big stadiums in London for big games and we have also enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship with the Stormers and Western Province, so we are very excited about this game.”
Stormers boss John Dobson added: “Saracens are one of the top club teams in the world and renowned for their innovation and forward-thinking on and off the pitch, which this match is another good example of.
“This trip would give our players the chance to test themselves against a quality team in a world-class venue, and we are very much looking forward to being able to be part of this.”
Dig out from ex-AB has reaped reward two years later
https://t.co/KGmIdLsKZ0— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 23, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
A distinct discomfort with the officiating they were probably selected from the local IRA narcos branch along with the commentators bloody fly tippers.
1 Go to commentsWow, never thought I would read that
1 Go to commentsExcellent match. Great to see Keenan and Ryan back for Leinster. Super result for Ulster. Season is turning around.
1 Go to comments“We need eight or nine new players, who are hard-wearing and durable and experienced Premiership performers”. So why are they scouting a retired fullback who himself admits that his “body is broken”?
1 Go to commentsBrumbies hand, knocked a Crusaders hand. Therefore, knock on in goal. Crusaders, goal line drop out should’ve been awarded. most likely after that 24 each at full time, so extra time would’ve been the right an entertaining outcome. Act Jim
1 Go to commentsSpeell cehck
1 Go to commentsColeman is gaawwwwnnn.
1 Go to commentsnext SA head coach?
3 Go to commentsGreat try by van Poortvliet.
1 Go to commentsThey have been cruelled by injuries but almost nobody (Sevu Reece and Fletcher Newell big exceptions) has played above himself which regularly happened before. Surely Scott Robertson had maintained the recruitment programme and it looks like a reasonable squad. Last in this competition will stall a lot of careers. Penny seems likeable. But it’s not enough even though this was better. We haven’t been good enough and it’s not helped by the “it’s been 15 years since… “etc “after nearly every match. Seems somehow a soft gifting of something once valuable. Kieran Read giving comments last week almost choked describing the easy surrender of possession by the forwards. I’d love to think that the senior players some of whom are back can show enough pride in the jersey to test the Blues next week.
3 Go to commentsWho will Joe select for the back three with so many in form candidates? Just hope he doesn’t get shafted like Dave Rennie and to a lesser extent Deans.
6 Go to commentsAlways reluctant to blame a coach when losses rack up, but Penney must go. The backline is dysfunctional and the coach must carry the can. No cohesion, no idea and in many cases, minimal skill. The trains out of Roma St depart faster than the ball from Crusaders’ set pieces. Wouldn’t be surprised if the forwards went on strike.
3 Go to commentsAdding to earlier comment. Cullen Grace has been playing great at no6. Lio-Willie , who was on fire a few weeks ago, had a bad game. I think Cullen should have been moved to 8 earlier, Dominic Gardiner on earlier. Feel for Quinten Strange , put in a big shift .
6 Go to commentsWe dominated the scrums Ben Curry was all over pitch again .Surely James Harper got to be one of best English tightheads
1 Go to commentsRoos is a better option at 6 than 8 for the boks. Needs to work on his windgat though.
1 Go to commentsThe Sharks’ 2nd team maybe?
1 Go to comments‘radical’
1 Go to commentsCome back to Christchurch Robbie, please!
1 Go to commentsI think there is zero chance Sam Cane will be selected for another Test. There is simply no point except sentimentality. Razor is not sentimental- ask Wyatt Crocket. Razor is a ruthless selector
5 Go to comments> It would be best described as an elegant solution to what was potentially going to be a significant problem for new All Blacks coach Scott Robertson. It is a problem the mad population of New Zealand will have to cope with more and more as All Blacks are able to continue their careers in NZ post RWCs. It will not be a problem for coaches, who are always going to start a campaign with the captain for the next WC in mind. > Cane, despite his warrior spirit, his undoubted commitment to every team he played for and unforgettable heroics against Ireland in last year’s World Cup quarter-final, was never unanimously admired or respected within New Zealand while he was in the role. Neither was McCaw, he was considered far too passive a captain and then out of form until his last world cup where everyone opinions changed, just like they would have if Cane had won the WC. > It was never easy to see where Cane, or even if, he would fit into Robertson’s squad given the new coach will want to be building a new-look team with 2027 in mind. > Cane will win his selections on merit and come the end of the year, he’ll sign off, he hopes, with 100 caps and maybe even, at last, universal public appreciation for what was a special career. No, he won’t. Those returning from Japan have already earned the right to retain their jersey, it’s in their contract. Cane would have been playing against England if he was ready, and found it very hard to keep his place. Perform, and they keep it however. Very easy to see where Cane could have fit, very hard to see how he could have accomplished it choosing this year as his sabbatical instead of 2025, and that’s how it played out (though I assume we now know what when NZR said they were allowing him to move his sabbatical forward and return to NZ next year, they had actually agreed to simply select him for the All Blacks from overseas, without any chance he was going to play in NZ again). With a mammoth season of 15 All Black games they might as well get some value out of his years contract, though even with him being of equal character to Richie, I don’t think they should guarantee him his 100 caps. That’s not what the All Blacks should be about. He absolutely has to play winning football.
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