Saracens are back to playing the role of wind-up merchants by claiming Sunday’s Gallagher PREM London derby is a cup final only for opponents Harlequins.
Less than a fortnight after responding to criticism from Pat Lam’s Bristol of their artificial grass pitch at StoneX by posting on social media “Not suitable for Bears or Lams”, they have moved to get under the skin of their capital rivals.
First, the club’s Instagram account posted about the Derby Weekend clash at Twickenham Stoop with three words: “Their cup final”. Then in an interview with Planet Rugby, Hugh Tizard took up the theme.
‘I think for them it is spicy’
Tizard, who joined Quins youth system at 16 and played 45 times for the first team before switching to Sarries in 2022, claimed that while Sunday’s encounter is nothing special for the six-time English champions, “I think for them it is spicy”.
He added: “I think they believe it’s their cup final. I think for us it’s just a normal game. Personally, I haven’t got as many friends there any more. So, it’s just a regular game, this one.
“It’s definitely in their calendar. The first game they’re looking for. [The loss from the London scene of Wasps and London Irish] has added a bit more fuel to the fire, I suppose, but it seems to be more at their end than ours.”
It is 12 years since Mike Brown, then Quins’ fullback, labelled it Quins’ “biggest grudge match”, adding: “They [Saracens] are a club with all the cash and a fake pitch just to annoy everyone”.
In 2022, Sarries hooker Jamie George described it as a “proper rivalry”, adding: “I’d say there is as close to hatred there. I think you look back at any of the Sarries-Quins games over the last few years they are always pretty tense and quite full-on, pretty feisty.”
Asked this week why it should be that the game is so big for Quins and not Saracens, Tizard, 26, replied: “I suppose, generally speaking, Saracens have been on the right side of the result against them.
“When I was at Quins, I don’t think I won a game against Saracens and then for my first three years here, Sarries didn’t lose against them.”
Tizard accepts that Jason Gilmore’s side “probably had the bragging rights last year”, Quins having won the corresponding fixture 20-14.
‘I don’t think it’s as important as it once was’
“But you look at where the table finishes [Saracens fifth, Quins ninth] and how the squads are doing [Saracens third, Quins 10th] and I don’t think it’s as important as it once was.”
Quins are bottom of the table, desperate for their first win of the campaign. They have Marcus Smith making his 200th appearance and England team-mate Fin Baxter back in the starting line-up for the first time in 10 months.
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Tizard expects this Harlequins side to be very different from the one beaten by Bath (33-17), Gloucester (48-0) and Sale (28-24) in the first three rounds.
“We know the Quins side we’ve seen the last month isn’t going to be the Quins side we are going to play on Sunday,” he said.
“They are always a lot better when they play us. So, we need to be at the races, definitely. Their poor start to the season won’t be reflected in what we see on Sunday.”