Saracens reinforce the ‘everyone hates us and we don’t care’ mantra ahead of Champions Cup semi-final

Salary cap breach allegations, star players in social media controversies and doubts over the England captain will all be used this week to fire up the favourites for the Champions Cup

Saracens have felt their share of adversity ahead of their semi-final against Munster (Getty)

Allegations of salary cap breaches, a star player attempting to justify homophobia and a pivotal playmaker whose position as England captain is being widely questioned. Throw in last weekend’s Premiership loss to relegation-threatened Bristol and it hardly adds up to textbook preparation for Saracens’ European Champions Cup semi-final against Munster.

The sustained negative headlines, which this week saw Sale director of rugby Steve Diamond up the ante by comparing allegations of salary cap breaches – denied by Saracens – to players taking performance enhancing drugs, might have proved terminally debilitating for some, if not most, clubs.

But Saracens are not most clubs. They’ve made a winning habit of doing things differently and you sense, strangely, they wouldn’t have it any other way.

Many of Saracens’ players, a hard core of them including Owen Farrell, George Kruis, Jackson Wray and Jamie George have come through the club’s academy, have long subscribed to the “no-one likes us, we don’t care” school of thought.

Saracens’ success, much of it dependent on the benevolence of millionaire businessman Nigel Wray, has attracted snipers for a couple of decades.

There’s a strong will among their domestic rivals for a far more robust investigation this time around than the limp piece of celery Premier Rugby vaguely wafted in their direction when similar allegations were made in 2015.

But despite all the noise, it would be a fool who bet against them winning the Champions Cup for the third time in four years.

“Saracens are coming in under a cloud, but it will be the making of them,” their former lock Jim Hamilton told rugbypass.com this week.

“In adverse times that sort of chat surrounding them actually brings the guys together.”

Munster, appearing in their 14th semi-final, are Saracens’ opponents at the Ricoh Arena on Saturday and will do doubt provide tougher opposition than anything they’ve faced so far in Europe.

But in recording seven wins from seven, scoring 30 tries in the process and more points than anyone else in the tournament, Saracens have reached the last four in cruise control. That’s despite the heavy weather around them.

Glasgow were the last to try their luck at toppling the 2016 and 2017 champions and they were sent packing in no uncertain terms as Saracens turned on the style at Allianz Park to run in seven tries and ease into the last four with something to spare.

Doubts over Owen Farrell's England captaincy arose after the Six Nations (Getty)

Their domestic form might have wavered in recent weeks with last weekend’s defeat by Bristol following losses to Bath and Gloucester, but all the sensible money remains on the defending champions, along with top-of-the-table Exeter, claiming home play-off positions.

Director of rugby Mark McCall has rotated, tinkered and swapped his squad around all season in a carefully planned and strategic attempt to ensure as many of his first-team are fit, firing and fresh come the closing stages of league and European seasons. A couple of domestic wobbles were always to be expected.

In Europe, to date, Saracens have been almost flawless in twice dispatching Cardiff Blues, Lyon and Glasgow in the pools before seeing off the Scottish region again in the quarter-finals.

Peter O’Mahony’s men, in their 14th Champions Cup semi final appearance, lie in wait at the Ricoh along with the travelling army of loyal fans which follows them, but without their injured playmaker Joey Carbery, Munster go into the game underdogs.

In Carbery’s absence, more focus will come on scrum half Conor Murray, who has struggled to recapture his best form for Munster or Ireland this season while the Irish province was fortunate to scrape through their quarter-final away to Edinburgh.

Billy Vunipola landed himself in a homophobia row this week (Getty)

For Saracens’ Billy Vunipola, a week after receiving a public telling off from the RFU and Saracens for his ill-judged attempts to justify Israel Folau’s “gays are going to hell” rant, will be far more sure of his footing on the playing field than in the minefield he lumbered into last week.

His No 8 battle with CJ Stander will be both engrossing and defining.

Farrell too will have something to prove in his first big game since England’s second-half Calcutta Cup collapse to Scotland in March which led to calls for him to be relieved of the England captaincy.

Victory on Saturday will not silence the noise around them. But either way, Saracens can live with it. They’ve been living with it for a long time.

In many ways, they love it. No-one likes them and they don’t care.