The Breakdown: Saracens ruthless efficiency

            Saracens 26-10 victory over a passionate Munster side has put them back into the Champions Cup final for the third time in four years. The performance in Dublin was a ferocious display of efficiency, the likes of which we have come to expect from the Wolfpack. As we breakdown the Saracens machine, we’ll see the vital cogs that make up the reigning European & English champions.

What makes Saracens tick?

            Saracens are a side that have a gameplan, stick to that gameplan and execute it extremely well. While it may not seem overly complex it is the clinical nature with which they complete it that makes them so difficult to overcome. We’ll be breaking down that plan into four key areas.

Play in the right areas

To boil Saracens down to just a good kicking side would be a gross underestimate of their ability, they are smarter than that. However, kicking does play a major part in their style of play. Saracens only play rugby where they need to play rugby. Masterminded by worldclass half-backs in Wigglesworth & Farrell (and occasionally Vunipola), Saracens clear danger again and again.

              

            Taking the game against Munster as an example, Saracens only ran the ball from inside their half 8 times in the entire game, with 3 of those coming in the final minutes as they attempted to run down the clock. 77% of phases from Saracens inside their half resulted in kicks, 90% inside their own 22m excluding running out the clock. And it is the accuracy of these kicks, when facing the likes of Zebo & Earls, that is so impressive. All Saracens kicks were either contestable or found space, limiting the opportunity for counter-attacks.

         

            Yet when Saracens are attacking they change tact. That 77% kicking swings to just 9% inside their opponents half. In fact, they only kicked the ball once inside the Munster 22m, and that resulted in Wyles’ try that sealed the game. The core belief that they must only play in the right area is drilled into the squad and it proves mightily effective when executed as well as Saracens do. As ex-Saracens coaching guru, Brendan Venter, once said ‘100% of tries are scored in your opponents 22m.’ But playing in the right area is only any good if you…

Make your tackles

                As much as Saracens are a kicking side, they are also a tackling side. Here, perhaps most noticeably, is where their ruthless efficiency shines through. The old adage goes ‘A kick is only as good as its chase’, but a chase is only as good as the tackle that follows. The Wolfpack will make tackle after tackle and demonstrate immense fitness game after game to keep the opposition out. In the Aviva Premiership this season Saracens have only conceded 23 tries, vastly fewer than any other side, with Leicester & Bath the closest on 43.

                Saracens made a staggering 167 tackles against Munster, almost double the number of the Irishmen. And in a typically Saracens squad effort, 9 of the starting 15 made it into double figures for tackles completed, compared with just Billy Holland for Munster. What makes those numbers more impressive again is the return of the ‘e’ word, efficiency. Despite making near double the tackles of Munster, they missed one less, 13 to 14. A 92% tackle completion that kept Munster from crossing the whitewash until the game was won in the 79^th minute. Saracens opponents know lining up against them; they are going to get knocked down over and over with very little reward. And it isn’t just the quantity of tackles, but the quality too. Saracens are ferocious in making sure you…

Win your battles

                Saracens are not content with simply knocking you down, but also powerful in winning the contact too. Time after time the men in black drive opponents back towards their own goal line with great force. As shown at the weekend, Saracens scarcely allow sides to break the gainline, especially if you attack them head on.

                While it may be harder to show statistically, the intensity with which Saracens approach the tackle, the breakdown & the set piece creates problems for any opposition. The domination of these areas starve teams of any attacking platform. Losing the collision and failing to make the gainline makes it far too easy for the Saracens defensive line. It could be argued that Munster played into Saracens hands at the weekend in this sense. Failing to stretch the defence and persisting to send one out runners into the ball wall. And with players will Vunipola, Rhodes & Itoje, it’s a power level that others teams simply cannot match. However, the gameplan & power play is nothing if you don’t…

Take your points

                You can have all the ball you like, in all the right positions in the pitch, as Munster did in Dublin, and fail to win if you don’t take the points on offer. Munster had 9 visits into the Saracens 22m but only took 8 points from all that effort. Frighteningly, this was a Saracens performance that didn’t take all of the points on offer, and yet were still run out winners. While statistically they appear as clinical as usual with 14 points from just 5 visits to the Munster 22m, they left two relatively easy tries out on the field. If it weren’t for those uncharacteristic mistakes, we could have been looking at a much heavier scoreline in favour of the champions. As Munster boss Rassie Erasmus said, “We played against a team that were better than us. That’s a reality.”

                Saracens are professionals at keeping the scoreboard ticking over, and keeping the game out of reach from their opponents. With Farrell’s kicking over 80% in the Aviva Premiership this season  it’s easy to see where so many of their points come from. Saracens don’t score a shedload of points every weekend, they simply don’t need to. While Wasps & Exeter may be further ahead in terms of tries scored, Saracens will beat their opponents into submission with three points after three points, and when they get opportunities inside your 22m, chances are they leave with points on the board. While it may take teams several visits into the Saracens half to score anything, most of the time, Saracens only need one.

‘A well-oiled machine’

                Despite how simple the plan may seem it’s how Saracens carry it out that makes it so effective. Any side could adopt these techniques but few would reach the level that Saracens do. Whether it be down to the world-class players, the strength in depth, the ambition & unity amongst the squad, the workrate and fitness or a combination of them all, Saracens are consistently able to get to job done. Schalk Brits summarised it perfectly after the game at the weekend;

                “We have belief in each other, with these big games you can’t look too far ahead. You have to focus on the next play. If you start looking at the clock or the scoreboard you start losing focus on what is happening now. Two or three years ago we changed all the mindset to focus on the next play being the most important. We’re a hard team to play whoever we are play. What makes us difficult to beat is that we don’t just have 15, we have a squad of 30 who we can swap. We have world-class players who we will miss when they don’t play but in essence we are a well-oiled machine.”

I’d liken Saracens to a boxer. A boxer with incredible endurance, who can get hit and hit and hit and not fall down. And a boxer who only deals in haymakers, he doesn’t waste punches, when he strikes it hurts. And it is that combination of ferocious defence and clinical attack that sees Saracens continue to succeed in the highest echelons of club rugby, and, for the moment, there isn’t an end in sight to their reign.