Jamie George has set his sights on another domestic and European double after Saracens made a “statement of intent” by thrashing Glasgow Warriors to book a Champions Cup semi-final against Munster.
Saracens made for the Austrian Alps on Sunday for one of their famous team bonding trips in the skiing village of St Anton after clinching a sixth European semi-final in seven years in style on Saturday.
Not even the late withdrawal of Owen Farrell – to be by the side of his wife, Georgie, for the birth of their son – could derail the two-time champions with Alex Goode stepping in at fly-half in Saracens’ emphatic 56-27 win. Brad Barritt’s late ankle injury – “potentially devastating”, according to the director of rugby, Mark McCall – was the only downside for Saracens who will now face Munster in the last four at Coventry’s Ricoh Arena on 20 April.
Last season Saracens fell at the quarter-final stage, going down to the eventual champions Leinster but recovered to claim the Premiership title. Nine more victories this season would guarantee Saracens both trophies again – a feat they achieved in 2016. “Our aim, without doubt, is to go unbeaten for the rest of the season, because to achieve what we want to achieve, that is what we’ll need to do,” said George.
“At the beginning of the season, we’re fully aware of what we want to do. Yes, we are still aware of it at this stage of the season. At the start of the year, we said we want to be one of the best teams in Europe, consistently. It was pretty clear we wanted to have a real good crack at this. To be the only unbeaten team in the tournament is a statement of intent.”
Saracens met Munster at the semi‑final stage two seasons ago with McCall’s side prevailing 26-10 in Dublin. George is expecting another bruising encounter and believes Saracens must make considerable improvements despite notching another half-century on Saturday.
“I honestly think we are quite a long way off where we need to be, which is disappointing, but also exciting at the same time,” he said. “We can’t be too hard on what we did [against Glasgow] but we were good with the ball and not so good without it.
“[Munster] will fight for everything. They are well coached, well drilled and they’re a tough team to break down so it’s going to be a good contest. If you look at Munster and us, we value the same things as a team and as a club – that’s why it’s going to be a good contest.”