ULSTER AND SARACENS meet at the quarter-final stages for the second season on the trot, but there are some key difference this time around.
A trip to Twickenham at this stage last year proved too much for the northern province, as they failed to fire against the Premiership side, making home advantage all the more essential this weekend.
Of the 68 quarter-finals in the Heineken Cup’s history up until this point, there have been a total of just 17 away wins. Those statistics do suggest that there will be one away win this weekend, but the odds are in Ulster’s favour.
Not simply because of history; Saracens centre Brad Barritt acknowledges that the Ruan Pienaar-inspired province “have been in fantastic form in the Heineken Cup and deserved top spot” in Pool 5.
But rather than focus on the vocal home support Ulster will have for Saturday’s clash, or the development they have made in the last year under Mark Anscombe, Barritt insists that Saracens’ focus this week is internal.
Leading that drive have been two Ulstermen, head coach Mark McCall and performance director Phil Morrow. The latter was the Head of Fitness for Ireland as recently as the 2011 World Cup, while McCall has head coached Ulster.
Mark and Phil very much want to make it about us,” says Barritt. “If you get too drawn into the sideshows across the pitch, it can very much distract you from the game. We thrive on playing in these arenas. It’s an honour to play at Ravenhill.
“This is the biggest game of the season for us and it’s about nailing the performance on the day. The teams are evenly matched and it will come down to which team executes their game plan better on the day.”
Like Ulster, Saracens have made notable strides in their performance levels this season, benefiting from an increased focus on width and handling skills. England international Barritt lauds the “hard work” of McCall in that regard, as well as backs coach Kevin Sorrell and skills specialist Joe Shaw.
The result is that Premiership leaders Saracens are the top points scorers [by 56 points], top try-scorers [with 53 in 18 games] and have achieved the highest number of try-scoring bonus points [8] in the league this season.
It’s a similar tale in the Heineken Cup, where Sarries’ 217 points and 29 tries during the pool stages were some distance ahead of the chasing pack [although the presence of Zebre in Pool 3 skews the stats in their favour].
Last season, Saracens were heavily reliant on their explosive ball-carriers to make gainline advances, and while that remains the case, new flourishes have made McCall’s men less one-dimensional in attack.
There have been some minor tweaks to our attacking shape from the previous season and it’s proved very beneficial,” admits Barritt. “Being the highest try-scorers and highest bonus point team in the Premiership speaks volumes for the hard work that our attacking coaches put into the team.
“I think that there are subtle things that have allowed us to have that fluidity and not undo the hard work we’ve done in the past. Hopefully we can continue that in the Ulster game.”
- Additional reporting by Paul Fennessy.
