By Matt Hardy
Sat on the balcony overlooking the trading ring of Finsbury Square’s London Metal Exchange, Saracens stalwarts and England internationals Ben Earl and Maro Itoje take in what they’ve just witnessed.
In the preceding hour a handful of men in suits debated, argued and eventually decided the price of zinc, copper and other metals for the global market.
Much like snooker, where one foot must always be grounded, the suits stood and shouted, pointing at one another like naughty school children.
“I actually see the similarities with our coaches to the boys when they get desperate and start shouting at us,” back-row Earl tells City A.M.
Adds his England colleague Itoje: “It was fascinating but also kind of crazy.”
Saracens on the charge
Saracens are in the play-offs, that’s for sure. Second after 17 games, the north Londoners are now only playing for a seeding in the final four.
If they finish first or second, they’ll be at their Stone X home in the semi-finals of this year’s domestic Premiership campaign.
And if they finish third or fourth – only possible if they lose and one of the two teams within five points win at the weekend – then they’ll be away.
Saracens finished top last season and went on to win the Premiership final for the first time since 2019, and since their enforced relegation for salary cap breaches.
“We’ve been a bit up and down throughout the season,” explains 29-year-old Itoje. “But what really matters is what happens in the next few weeks.
“We’ve been building quite nicely and the pieces are starting to come together. But the proof is in the pudding. As a team, we need to get out there and make sure we deliver.”
Earl, 26, agrees: “It doesn’t really matter how the season has gone because we like the position we are in as a team.
“We think we’re peaking at the right time, we’re playing really well and we have shown a lot of what makes us good and what we’re known for.”
I am not going to be too airy fairy: we want to win trophies.
Long goodbye
Itoje and Earl, as well as England captain Jamie George who was also present at the trading event put on by Stone X, are sticking around the club’s St Albans base. But the summer will bring vast changes to a Saracens squad that has been so stable for a decade.
The club are losing, to date, seven England or English-qualified players including captain Owen Farrell; Vunipola brothers Billy, Mako and Manu; and forwards Christian Judge and Tom West.
A team so used to minimal change is about to face a tectonic shift as a core of their stars head for rival clubs and lucrative overseas contracts. So for now it is about giving those teammates the send-off they deserve with a trophy in hand.
“It goes without saying that we want to finish the season well for a combination of reasons,” 76-cap international lock Itoje says.
“One of which is that we’ve got Owen [Farrell], Billy, Mako [Vunipola], Sean [Maitland], Alex [Lewington] who contributed immensely to the club and the history of the club.
“We want to finish the season well for them but we’ve put the work in and we will put in a little bit of extra effort for those guys.”
Success for Itoje and Earl
The Saracens “wolfpack” mentality has been a divisive force: key to the team winning three Champions Cup titles and enjoying domestic dominance, but it is also seen by some as at the heart of the reasons to dislike the Londoners.
But on the cusp of their third consecutive domestic final and a potential seventh Premiership title, just how do serial winners define success this season?
“This team is magical when you are playing really well,” Earl says. “That is fighting for each other and it’s what makes us us. That’s success.”
Adds Itoje: “Without trying to be too philosophical, I am not going to be too airy fairy: we want to win trophies. But we want to give the best account of ourselves.
“I think if we give the best account of ourselves, we’ll be at peace with that. And I think this team has a high ceiling and the best account of ourselves would be good enough to get silverware in the end.”
