Maro Itoje says victory for Saracens in Saturday’s Gallagher Premiership final would rank alongside the most satisfying achievements of his career after the upheaval caused by the club’s relegation to the Championship for salary cap breaches.
The England lock forward was among a number of senior players who gathered for a summit meeting in the Wicked Lady pub near Harpenden to decide how they should respond to the club’s demotion to the second tier for the 2020-21 season.
Once they had been reassured England would still consider them, Itoje and his most experienced teammates all resolved to stay at Saracens with the aim of propelling the club back to the kind of big occasion that awaits at Twickenham. “It was a tumultuous period where there was a lot of uncertainty, a period when we didn’t really know what was happening,” said Itoje.
“That coincided with Covid so there was double trouble. But I still felt Saracens was the environment where I could achieve all of my goals. No one really wants to play in the Championship but I still felt Saracens was the right long-term place for me to have the type of career I want to have.”
Having finished second in the regular season table and battled past Harlequins in the semi-final, Itoje now wants to finish the job by overcoming Leicester at Twickenham. The squad have recently been picking the brains of guest speakers such as Eddie Howe, Sean Dyche and Alastair Campbell and are hungry to secure a first title since 2019. “I don’t really like ranking things, but this would be right up there,” confirmed Itoje.
“Leicester are a top team and we need to make sure we play our best rugby but this would be an amazing achievement for the club if we do achieve it. The mentality of the players at this club, particularly the senior players, is that we want to have successful careers. Not just a successful year or couple of years but a successful career.
“In order to have that you need to have the hunger to go again. If you look at the top athletes from different parts of the world, whatever sport they play, they go after it year after year. That is the mentality of a lot of players at this club.”
Itoje, meanwhile, believes the final needs to be made more tempting to non-rugby supporters if the club game is to boost its popularity. “If you were to compare it to other major sporting events – the Champions League final, the Monaco Grand Prix – they’re events people don’t want to miss.
“I’m sure Twickenham will be sold out with loads of people there but predominantly they will be rugby fans. The Premiership final should be the biggest event in town.”
Ireland will be without the injured Ronan Kelleher, Andrew Conway and Robert Baloucoune for their tour to New Zealand. Andy Farrell has named a 40-man squad including the uncapped Leinster trio of Ciaran Frawley, Joe McCarthy and Jimmy O’Brien.
