THE CHALLENGE AHEAD

Honest! Disciplined! Relentless! Together!  No not Saracens’ set of values but Edinburgh’s.  Sarries’ go: Honesty, Discipline, Humility, Work-rate so not so very different then (although as we have seen in recent weeks, the “discipline” one is a work in progress. Perhaps Edinburgh’s use of the past tense to indicate completion is an aspiration for us?)

Edinburgh are having a decent season so far, sitting 2^nd in the (United Rugby Championship Table) as do Sarries - to Leinster (as opposed to Leicester). This is all very similar isn’t it! Edinburgh’s only defeat this season was away to Benetton – and then by just 1 point! Luckily for them, they haven’t yet had to make the trip to South Africa and all that has entailed for some of their fellow clubs! Unlike Sarries, who have played the best teams around them, Edinburgh have yet to play Leinster, Ulster or Ospreys, their closet rivals.

But this is European Competition – and for Sarries it is a relatively new experience competing in the Challenge Cup. Sarries have yet to win this particular competition so that at least should be an incentive. You would be forgiven for not wholly understanding the rules or the route into the next stage.

Only EPCR could come up with a competition whereby there are more teams at the knockout stage (16) than the league stage (15) ! Each of the 15 clubs plays 4 games – to reduce the number from 15 to 10! Let me explain:- basically there are 3 pools of 5 clubs which are ranked on merit – well at least kind of because I suspect as the “promoted” club, Sarries were awarded the lowest ranking. The clubs in each pool play each other and the winners, runners-up,  3^rd placed teams and the best 4^th placed team go through to the knockout stage where they are joined by 6 teams from the Heineken Cup. (These 6 teams are those who finish in 9^th to 11^th places in the 2 leagues so only 2 of the 24 clubs who have taken part in the Heineken Cup will be totally eliminated!)

Are you with me so far? The 16 qualifiers for the knock out stage then get re-ranked and this determines both home advantage and who you get to play. The top 8 Challenge Cup Qualifiers (ie group winners, runners up and best two 3^rd place clubs) get home advantage. For some reason EPCR have devised a peculiar way of ranking the 8 away clubs with the 6 Heineken Qualifiers being ranked 9-14 and the other 2 Challenge Cup Qualifiers getting the lowest ranking.

Basically this means win the group and you get a home advantage and an easier draw. Finish 2^nd and you still get home advantage but a slightly tougher draw. Finish 3^rd and you’ll probably get home advantage but face the best of the Heineken Clubs.

Home quarter finals will probably go to the top 4 Challenge Cup qualifiers (or their conquerors in the previous round) – even at this stage it seems EPCR haven’t completely made up their minds how it’s going to work! Similarly with the semi-finals although the Final is set for Marseilles on the evening of 27^th May. Probably!

So Saracens are in Pool C along with Brive, Pau, London Irish (again) and this weekend’s opponents Edinburgh. Not exactly a walk in the park and Sarries will be complacent at their peril. Team selection will be interesting – Edinburgh would appear to be no pushover! Formerly coached by Richard Cockerill who departed to join up with Eddie, Mike Blair has taken over this season. In addition to  Scotland Internationals Hamish Watson, Jamie Ritchie, Blair Kinghorn, Stuart McInally & Darcy Graham, the Edinburgh squad contains 4 new Scotland caps from the recent autumn internationals: Luke Crosbie, Jamie Hodgson, Pierre Schoeman and Marshall Sykes. Edinburgh also have a new Argentinian back, Emiliano Boffelli, formerly of Racing 92. Edinburgh have lost the services of Jordan Venter (moved on to Bath) this week.

How will Mark McCall play this one then? Will he go with a full-strength team to make the most of home advantage (and potentially an easier game in the Pyrenees next weekend – is there ever an easy game in France?) I suspect we’ll see a strongish team (with a strong bench just in case) but I’d be tempted to give the likes of Koch, Mako and maybe Tompkins a break. Maro probably deserves a week off too but he makes such a huge difference to the team. Perhaps he could have next week off! Otherwise we’ll probably see a few tweaks – Van Zyl and Davies swapping places perhaps, Dom Morris coming into the centres, possibly alongside Daly, Loz to 10 perhaps with Malins at 15? If Segun is fit he’ll probably play and maybe Andy Christie if he’s recovered is also in line for a start. Baz and Clarey may be the starting props (with perhaps Mako & Koch on the bench in case) although I’d stick with Ewan Lewis at Hooker.

It would be nice to see the team return to the form which put Bath to the sword. I hope the team have been very Honest with each other this week and there will be no inDiscipline – you can be sure the referee will be hot on any backchat. A little Humility wouldn’t go amiss and Work-rate needs to be maintained for the whole 80 minutes. If Saracens remember their core values and live by them, the result should look after itself.