We must go down,reprieve would cause bitterness

ALEX Sanderson says Saracens are going through the season from hell, in which the inferno engulfing the club has come in waves, but that they will endure the heat and forge a new destiny.

- NICK CAIN

Sanderson, the 40-year-old Saracens forwards/defence coach who is one of the brightest coaching talents in not just the English game, but globally, says that no sooner has the club put out one fire than another has started.

First it was an unprecedented £5.36m fine and 35-point deduction for salary cap infractions in November. Then, in January, the blaze of recriminations continued with the announcement by PRL, and its ‘owners group’, that the double-winning Premiership and European champions would be relegated.

And now, like the rest of the game, Saracens are having to cope with the potentially crippling blast from the coronavirus suspension of the season.

Flames are all around, most notably in attempts to plunder the club by picking off star players like Maro Itoje and the Vunipola brothers, yet Sanderson refuses to press the panic button.

“It’s been a very tough season, both physically and mentally, with us having to adapt to one set of circumstances, only to find that those have changed, and that we have another set to deal with. Now with the virus we have had to reset again, along with everybody else this time, which makes it our third big adjustment of the season.”

Saracens had been hit hard so hard financially by the fine that most clubs would have gone up in smoke already. Pile on the lack of gate money and hospitality packages, and it should have seen the club vapourised.

However, for those rival Premiership owners hoping to see the club torched, the Sanderson message is that Saracens are still standing– but not standing still.