Dave Strettle is one of life's energy-givers; the sort of bloke who wouldn't think twice, or possibly even once, about meeting the press wearing a Superman baseball cap. Knowing Strettle's club, Saracens, it may have been for a bet, or just the wing being allowed to be himself. Either explanation fits a set-up where a group of young coaches, among whom Andrew Farrell is being coveted by England, "treat the players like mates", as Strettle puts it.
Saracens' team spirit, forged famously on private-jet trips to the Munich beer festival and zooming around Miami in rented motorhomes in mid-season breaks, faces one of its greatest tests today when a highly talented, cosmopolitan Clermont Auvergne side hit Watford for the only Heineken Cup quarter-final to feature an English club. While Leicester, Northampton and the rest fell by the wayside, the Premiership champions won a group featuring the Ospreys, Biarritz and Treviso. The enticing prize is a semi-final in the winners' home country – for Saracens, that would mean Twickenham.
Saracens' team spirit, forged famously on private-jet trips to the Munich beer festival and zooming around Miami in rented motorhomes in mid-season breaks, faces one of its greatest tests today when a highly talented, cosmopolitan Clermont Auvergne side hit Watford for the only Heineken Cup quarter-final to feature an English club. While Leicester, Northampton and the rest fell by the wayside, the Premiership champions won a group featuring the Ospreys, Biarritz and Treviso. The enticing prize is a semi-final in the winners' home country – for Saracens, that would mean Twickenham.