Saracens in the Championship: Can anyone really compete?

England stars Billy Vunipola, Maro Itoje and Owen Farrell face a season playing in the RFU Championship next year

Credit: Action Images

It feels like a long time has passed since the Premiership Rugby announced back in January that league champions Saracens were to be relegated at the end of season.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led the to the 2019-20 RFU Championship being stopped, with Newcastle Falcons bouncing back to the top flight at the first attempt with 15 wins out of 15 after the league was halted.

With the RFU slashing the levels of funding it provides teams in the second division, from around £534,000 to a 2015-level of £288,000 per club, the future of sides in the league looks dicey.

Yorkshire Carnegie, formerly known as Leeds Tykes, are one of the hardest clubs hit as they suffered a humiliating relegation this season, despite club legend Phil Davies taking over as Director of Rugby after leading Namibia at the 2019 World Cup.

With a tiny squad, a threadbare budget and minimal backroom staff, they are an example of how quickly clubs can spiral in the modern era, something which London Welsh and Richmond can testify to.

Carnegie only had one solitary losing bonus point on the board when the league was called to a halt, with a great northern institution brought to it’s knees by the financial side of the game.

However, despite their plight, some teams who have set their target on reaching the promised land of the Premiership, with the possibility ring fencing the league hovering ominously in the background.

While many clubs in the lower reaches of the table, such as Doncaster , Hartpury and London Scottish, will just be thrilled to have stars like Owen Farrell and Billy Vunipola trotting out against them, can any team in the second tier stop Saracens achieving promotion at the first attempt?

With Alex Lozowski, Ben Spencer and Nick Isiekwe moving to pastures new for next season, with others rumoured to follow, the flanker takes a look below at which sides could possibly give a depleted Sarries a scare or two.

Ealing Trailfinders

Ealing Trailfinders South African Centre Pat Howard goes over for a try in the 2018-19 season

Credit: David Horn/PRiME Media Images

Trailfinders finished second in the coronavirus-curtailed Championship this year but harbour genuine hopes of going one better next season.

They have already added 12 new players to their ranks, including former South Africa U-20 hooker Michael van Vuuren from Northampton Saints, fellow hooker Shaun Malton, prop Lewis Thiede and fullback Luke Daniels, all from Bristol Bears, lock Barney Maddison from London Irish and wing Angus Kernohan from Ulster.

They join former Saintsman and England Saxon Sam Dickinson, who adds beef to the Ealing second row. His lock partner, James Cannon, has plenty of Premiership experience and USA international Andrew Durutalo offers a taste of the exotic on the flank.

Behind the scrum, former Scarlets and Cardiff Blues fly-half Steven Shingler has signed a new deal at the club and is the playmaker for the team, along with former Wasps halfback Craig Hampson.

Kiwi wing Elijah Niko provides scoring potential along with Reon Joseph, who bagged seven tries last season, with former Sale and Tigers fullback Tommy Bell rounds things off for their young Director of Rugby Ben Ward.

Former fly-half Ward is only 35 years old and has lead the team through the divisions, first joining Ealing as a player in 2004 and moving into coaching in his later career.

His team play exciting rugby, scoring 66 tries in 14 games this season with a record only bettered by runaway champions Newcastle. If Ward can make his defence more stingy, they could cause problems for Saracens.

Speaking to the Rugby Paper last year, he said: “As far as we’re concerned, nothing has changed regarding promotion and relegation.

“We’re not going to break the bank by adding another £2m or £3m to our budget and do a London Welsh, but we’re developing and getting better and better each year.

“Our facilities are improving year-on-year, we’re developing an academy and we’ll keep doing that.

“We want to go to the next level and while there’s lots of talk of shutting people out, we should not be denied if we end up winning the league and earn that right.”

Cornish Pirates

The Cornish Pirates pack rumbles forward during a 40-11 win against Ampthill in November

Credit: Brian Tempest/Cornish Pirates

Cornish Pirates boasted The Championship’s second most frugal defence this season, conceding a mere 27 tries in 15 games before the league ended prematurely.

The Pirates ran Falcons close at their Mennaye Field home, losing narrowly 9-18 with Toby Flood kicking a late penatly to make the scoreline more flattering to the Tynesiders.

They are lead by Argentina International fly-half Javier Rojas Alvarez, who slots the goals and moves an impressive pack containing Welsh capped prop Craig Mitchell, Samoan Fa'atiga Lemalu and Kiwi Antonio Kiri Kiri, around the field with ease.

Former Connacht man Rory Parata is a skilful operator in midfield with his centre partner Callum Paterson fourth on the Championship try scoring list with nine this season.

Welsh scrumhalf JB Bruzulier has Premiership experience under his belt while Tom Cowan-Dickie, elder brother of Exeter and England’s Luke, is a solid operator at hooker.

Director of Rugby Chris Stirling is an experienced coach, leading the Pirates to a narrow 46-32 aggregate loss to Worcester in the 2011 Championship final.

He then held a role as High Performance Talent Identification Manager for the NZRFU, doing similar work with the Hurricanes before returning to England to coach Yorkshire Carnegie but is now back with the Pirates.

The team want to be in the Premiership having been knocking on the door for years, looking to emulate neighbours Exeter Chiefs’ meteoric rise.

Club legend and now club director Dicky Evans said last December to the BBC: “We're looking to keep our squad intact, we've got a big budget for next year and the following year, a three year plan with Chris Stirling and the team.

“We're looking to really get some top-class rugby into the stadium, in fact I hope to be watching Premiership rugby at the stadium in a few years time.”

Coventry

Coventry RFC, formed way back in 1874, celebrate a try as they look to establish themselves in the second tier before setting their sights on the Premiership

Credit: John Coles/Coventry Rugby

Coventry’s owner Jon Sharp has made no secret of his desire to take his hometown club into the Premiership, managing to attract former All Black Sam Tuitupou, ex-England international Luke Narraway and Scottish-capped Alex Grove to the club when they were in National League One.

On the proposal of ringfencing the top flight, he told Coventry Live: “It puts a brake on personal ambition and the club's ambition.

“There's at least five or six clubs in the Championship who have ambitions to go up into the Premiership. I think ambition is what it is all about.

“One of the PRL (Premiership Rugby Limited) arguments is the facilities at some of these clubs aren't good enough. The infrastructure isn't good enough, but if they had a bit more money, they would be!”

After a solid eighth-placed finish in the 2018/19 season following their promotion, they were sat in fourth when this season was called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Arguably boasting the best squad in the Championship aside from the Falcons, their pack contains well recognised Premiership names such as Gareth Denman, Ben Nutley, Darren Dawidiuk, Jack Ram and one time England prospect Luke Wallace.

Former Bath and England U20 fly-half Rory Jennings leads the scoring charts in the division with 112 points to his name, while the Fijian-born but Scottish-raised Bulumakau brothers, Junior and Andrew, provide real x-factor in the outside channels.

Former Gloucester man Henry Purdy is an experienced presence on the wing, as well as one time Northampton Saints scrum-half Tom Kessell, who previously made his name at Championship level with after an impressive spell at Cornish Pirates, proving a try-scoring sniper of a number nine.

The league’s third highest scorers are lead by exciting Director of Rugby Rowland Winter, while Louis Deacon and Anthony Allen add their wisdom to the squad as forwards and defence coaches respectively.

If the Championship’s version of Manchester City, a tag the owner Jon Sharp is eager to shake off, can add a few more quality players to their outfit they could cause genuine problems to Sarries as they look to come straight back up.