INVITED to discuss the edgy way in which tomorrow’s Champions Cup opponents got about their business, a smile flickered around Fraser Brown’s lips with good reason.
His head coach at Glasgow Warriors, Dave Rennie, has this week highlighted the underhand methods Saracens use to gain the upper hand in matches, expressing the hope that tomorrow’s match officials and, in particular, the world’s best referee Nigel Owens, will not let them get away with seeking to draw his players into off the ball confrontations.
Yet, irritating as such ploys may be, the true competitor would be dishonest if he or she did not admit to a grudging admiration and the Scotland hooker is among those.
“What you’ll see is guys like Maro Itoje who like to give their energy and get their energy from performing like that on the pitch,” Brown observed.
“Maro is such a good player. He’s always to the fore in Sarries games, he’s pivotal for them in attack and defence, and he’s very visual when he celebrates. So, it is easy for guys to focus on that, but then you miss out the rest of the good things he does well.
Training hard ahead of this weekend's trip to London ⚔️🛡️ pic.twitter.com/ObGrAwlQdC
— Glasgow Warriors (@GlasgowWarriors) March 27, 2019
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“So, they celebrate if they get a knock-on or a penalty and it is very visual, but when you see games for us against Munsters and Ulsters, there was always niggle in there. It is good, it shows the passion of both teams, that they are up for it and want to play.
“Part of that for ourselves is how we managed that, so we still manage to keep cool heads and play our own game.
“I don’t mind it. I think for some people it helps you get into the game. Particularly in these big games when you know you are going up against some of the best players in the world, so to have that confrontational battle, obviously in my own position but across the whole forward pack and even the back-line, it helps you get into the game, it helps you prepare for the physical battle.”
Such advantage can be gained in different ways and Brown took a more diplomatic approach last weekend when a quiet word with referee George Clancy was followed immediately by the sin-binning of opposing prop Charles Marais during Glasgow’s 35-17 defeat of the Cheetahs.
“I just pointed out that our scrum was quite clearly on top,” Brown explained.
“Loads of things at scrum time come down to interpretation, and we’ve got a good scrum – we’ve had a good scrum all season but particularly in the last three or four months – we’ve really worked on it and improved on it – we’ve got Ollie (Kebble), Zander (Fagerson) and Jamie Bhatti who are good, good scrummagers – so I just pointed out that we were in the ascendancy. We want to play rugby and we don’t want to be prevented from doing that in that way.”
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He knows, though, that words alone are not going to make a difference, particularly against opposition of Saracens’ quality.
“We’ve got Nigel as the referee this weekend. He’s refereed god knows how many games and he knows all the tricks,” said Brown.
“So, you’ve got to prove that you’re playing well and that you’re trying to play the game in the right fashion, that you are in the ascendancy and that’s particularly the case at scrum time. You’ve got to show that you want to be positive, that you want to scrum, that you want to use the ball and then hopefully on the back of that the referees will give you the right decisions.”
In terms of experience of such occasions, Saracens meanwhile boast a huge advantage in reaching this stage of the competition in each of the last seven seasons, winning five of their last six Champions Cup quarter-finals including their heavy defeat of Glasgow on their only appearance in the last eight two years. Brown reckons there is enough knowhow in the visiting camp to give them a chance, though.
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“We’ve played a lot of knock-out games before (and) we’ve got guys who have played in the highest quality Test matches, that experience is invaluable,” he contended. “We’ve got Dave (Rennie) coaching who has won Super Rugby titles, we’ve got Cully (captain Callum Gibbins) who has won Super Rugby titles with Hurricanes – there is a lot of experience in our squad. But they have got such a good outfit, they are strong across the park from one to 15, a great squad and are used to being in those positions. So, for us, it is about going there and trying to play our game, trying to force our game onto them and hopefully at the end of the 80 minutes we will be there or thereabouts, but there is no mistaking how good a team they are and how big a challenge it will be.”
Brown also believes that the way in which Glasgow’s chances are being dismissed can work in their favour.
“To know that we are not favourites going onto the game, to know that we are going to have to produce our best performance of the season, yeah it brings pressure, but it also brings an added focus to the week building up to the game and if we can drive that in the right way then hopefully it should amount to something at the weekend that brings out a good performance,” he saidFraser .
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