SQUAD NEWS | Saracens confirm 15 players have departed the club

Wednesday, 05 August 2020 at 15:33

bySteven Smith

Saracens have confirmed that 15 first-team players have left the club, six of which are loans.

After 12 years in north London, George Kruis leaves for a new challenge in Japan with Panosonic Wild Knights while Ben Spencer’s nine-year stay has ended with a move to Bath Rugby.

Liam Williams (Scarlets) and Academy graduate Matt Gallagher (Munster) will ply their trade in the Pro14 next term as will Rhys Carre who has returned to boyhood club Cardiff Blues. Joe Gray, Titi Lamositele and Will Skelton have signed with Harlequins, Montpellier and La Rochelle respectively.

Viliami Hakalo has left Saracens following the end of his contract.

FULL SENIOR SQUAD LIST

Props
Alec Clarey
Eroni Mawi
Josh Ibuanokpe
Mako Vunipola
Ralph Adams-Hale
Richard Barrington
Vincent Koch

Hookers
Jamie George
Kapeli Pifeleti
Tom Woolstencroft

Locks
Callum Hunter-Hill
Joel Kpoku
Maro Itoje
Tim Swinson

Back Row
Andy Christie
Billy Vunipola
Calum Clark
Jackson Wray
Janco Venter
Mike Rhodes
Sean Reffell

Scrum-Halves
Aled Davies
Alex Day
Richard Wigglesworth*
Tom Whiteley

Fly-Halves
Manu Vunipola
Owen Farrell
Will Hooley

Centres
Brad Barritt*
Dom Morris
Duncan Taylor
Elliot Daly
Harry Sloan
Juan Pablo Socino

Back Three
Alex Goode
Alex Lewington
Ali Crossdale
Elliott Obatoyinbo
Rotimi Segun
Sean Maitland

DEPARTURES
Ben Spencer (Bath Rugby)
George Kruis (Panosonic Wild Knights)
Joe Gray (Harlequins)
Liam Williams (Scarlets)
Matt Gallagher (Munster)

Rhys Carre (Cardiff Blues)
Titi Lamositele (Montpellier)
Viliami Hakalo (Retired)
Will Skelton (La Rochelle)

LOANS RETURNING FOR 2021/22 CAMPAIGN
Alex Lozowski (Montpellier)
Ben Earl (Bristol Bears)
Jack Singleton (Gloucester)
Max Malins (Bristol Bears)
Nick Isiekwe (Northampton Saints)
Nick Tompkins (Dragons)

JOIN THE RUCK:

Jonny Wilkinson picks his dream team

Jonny Wilkinson famously won the World Cup for England with a drop goal in 2003, but if he had to pick a non-English Dream Team, who would he choose?

Fullback: Serge Blanco - France

"Serge Blanco typified French rugby at its best with his audacity, ambition and flair. He was most famous for his scintillating counter-attacks, frequently running the ball out of seemingly impossible situations."

Wing: Christophe Dominici - France

“His opportunism, his flair, his game reading, his sheer explosivity to really change a game is something that sticks in my memory”

Outside Centre: Brian O'Driscoll - Ireland

“The ability to change the game in a second, a heartbeat, with his movement, with his skill, his game reading but also his leadership.”

Inside Centre: Tim Horan - Australia

“A guy that knew how to win, knew how to play the game. His body language suggested he didn’t really know how to fail or what mistakes were, what under performance was.”

Wing: Jonah Lomu - New Zealand

“The guy is quite a remarkable rugby legend and deserves to be so. No Rugby World cup team would be complete without him.”

Fly-half: Lynagh, Carter, Larkham, Stransky, Fox

“This is the key position for any World Cup winning team. You need guys that are going to lead and continue to do so right to the final seconds when it gets very, very tough. I can't just pick one."

Scrum-half: Gary Armstrong - Scotland

“The sheer aggression and resilience of the guy, his sheer character meant that anything, any ball that wasn’t good enough to go out to the number ten was never going to go out to the number ten. He would deal with everything himself and that meant control of the game”

Prop: David Sole - Scotland

He was seen by Wilkinson as “someone who inspired and brought energy to the game” with impact.

Hooker: Keith Wood - Ireland

“You need someone here in this position who can bring you the set piece control but at the same time I think they need to be aggressive, be someone that runs hard, someone that doesn’t stop, never gives up,”

Prop: Craig Dowd - New Zealand

“As with all tight heads what you want is someone who doesn’t take no for an answer, someone who is maybe a little quieter but someone you just don’t mess with”

Lock: Bakkie Botha - South Africa

“Someone incredibly fierce but very very down to earth” and “at times he’s exactly what a team needs,” according to Wilkinson.

Lock: John Eales - Australia

Eales was described by Wilkinson as “intelligent, another massive leader, gets himself around the park and brings another angle of goal kicking”.

Flanker: Francois Pienaar - South Africa

“Approaching a World Cup in our own country I think people can understand the pressure on the home team and to think about the pressure on the home captain - think about what this guy must have been going through in South Africa at that time. To see how he dealt with it I think is a lesson to all of us”