Mark McCall on Saracens' search for 'emotional consistency' as Premiership title defence begins in 'unusual season’

Saracens boss Mark McCall wants to regain the “emotional consistency” that helped his side to the Gallagher Premiership Rugby title, as their defence begins in an “unusual season.”

The trophy returned to StoneX Stadium last season for the first time since 2019 and Sarries will look to achieve what they did the previous two times they won the title - reclaim it.

The Hendon-based club won back-to-back Premiership medals in 2014/15 and 2015/16 before Saturday's opening weekend opponents, Exeter Chiefs, claimed the honour the following season.

Saracens would recapture power the following season and then defend it in 2018/19 but did not taste success again until last term, when McCall led them to a sixth championship.

Head coach McCall understands that the upcoming season is a different one with the Rugby World Cup taking centre stage and with a new-look squad, following Max Malin’s transfer to Bristol Bears.

McCall feels, that following the Premiership Rugby Cup group stages, now is a good chance for Saracens to continue to build on their fresh approach.

“Last season was a positive one for the club after losing to Leicester in the final the year before,” he said. “We had a little bit of a restart and we feel we are at the very early stages of that reboot. Last year went very well but we feel like there is more progress for us to achieve.

“We want to get better at the things we concentrated on all the way through the season. We’ve got a few new players in, the squad is changing and it’s an unusual season with it beginning during the World Cup.

“We have 13 players at the World Cup, which is a lot and the season gets up and running before they come back, but we’re very confident in the squad we’ve got.

“I think we’ll get better as the year goes on and we’re looking forward to it.”

McCall is looking to find the same “emotional consistency” which helped the team through tricky periods last year.

With it being an unusual season, and Saracens initially without a number of key players, McCall is aware there might be bumps in the road for the current champions.

“One of the things we concentrated on throughout the year was emotional consistency and being able to not get too down when there is a setback, or not too high when something good happens,” he explained. “So we’ve looked at being very stable and able to get on with the task at hand.

“I think there were a few moments in the final against Sale [last season] when it felt like a few things were going against us, like when Sale took the lead and were 25-23 up.

“In that next 20 minutes, you saw all of the work we had done in that emotional space and how calm the players were in doing their jobs.

“They played really well in that last 20 minutes when it mattered most and that was an encouraging sign going forward.”

The club have brought in eight new players and let go of 15, with another eight players committing to new contracts in a shake-up ahead of the new campaign.

Top try-scorer Malin’s departure has been covered by the acquisitions of Tom Parton and Lucio Cinti, with Tom Willis an exciting addition to the squad.

Sarcenes begin their title defence against Exeter Chiefs on Saturday, October 14 which will be live on TNT Sports at 13:30.

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