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In fairness to BV he has previously been vocal about player welfare and offered a really interesting perspective, including saying he would accept a pay cut to be able to play less frequently. The oft-cited examples of Sexton and AWJ (who both play the vast majority of their annual rugby internationally, only very rarely playing for their clubs) provide relevant counterpoints to anyone arguing that it's madness to expect the Sarries players to be performing for England. I think it's entirely reasonable, at the point in their careers and having had such an intense 3-5 years, for BV, Maro, George, Farrell etc to think that a year of less playing, recovery and peaking for Lions/WC23 would be sensible. Sadly they find themselves playing in a stuttering England and Saracens are making assumptions of automatic promotion look wide of the mark...
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owl
Very true. Yes there's loyalty and not punishing players because of what the wheeler dealers and bean counters in the club have done. But it does send some poor signals out to the players. Try as hard as you like, you'll not break through into this group. And likewise the guys who are there may take their foot off the gas (might explain some performances/results). Leaves a bad taste in the mouth for me. This is not another "blame Saracens for all the things" rant. I think Jones is the one who got the balance wrong. BV has not hit form for ages and something has to give.