SCOTLAND internationals Duncan Taylor and Jim Hamilton have a shot at European glory this afternoon in the Champions Cup final in Lyon - but their Saracens team are up against possibly the richest club in world rugby.
Taylor starts and Hamilton is on the bench for the English club, who have never won the cup. Nor have Racing 92, but their owner, Jacky Lorenzetti, has thrown a substantial chunk of his vast personal fortune into bringing major trophies to the team from the outskirts of Paris.
Dan Carter, who joined Racing this season after lifting the World Cup with the All Blacks, is just the best known of a star-studded line-up. He is joined by compatriots Joe Rokocoko and Chris Masoe, as well as Argentine winger Juan Imhoff - who almost signed for Glasgow four years ago.
Saracens, who have a debt of £45million, have key England players such as second-row forward George Kruis and stand-off Owen Farrell in their starting line-up, though their biggest asset in every sense is likely to be Billy Vunipola. The England No 8, whose brother Mako is at loosehead prop, had a spectacular Six Nations, and was man of the match in the Calcutta Cup clash at Murrayfield.
It is a close game to call, with Saracens boasting the best attack in terms of points scored in the competition and Racing possessing the meanest defence. But the north London club could have an edge in having been to the final before - two years ago when they lost to Toulon - while for Racing this is a first.
“Of course we want to be able to put our best foot forward - we didn’t do that two years ago,” said Mark McCall, the Saracens director of rugby. “Maybe because we weren’t good enough, maybe we weren’t experienced enough, but I think we are experienced enough now.”
Lorenzetti has set about constructing a squad designed to dominate continental competition in the way that Toulon and Toulouse have done in the past, but McCall believes that his club, too, will be at or near the top for some time to come. “We have got players who are unbelievably ambitious, and are eager to get better, who are in their early and mid-20s,” he said. “So regardless what happens I believe we are going to play in more of these big matches.”
Racing, who will have Glasgow lock Leone Nakarawa on their books last season, lost to the Warriors in the pool stages, though only when they had already qualified for the knockout stages. Saracens, by contrast, are on course to become the first team to lift the trophy after winning all their pool matches.
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