Saracens Europe

I think he may regret saying what he was thinking of doing.

I may be wrong but I suspect money may have played a part in the decision.

Is the English domestic game more lucrative than the European cup?

Because this is the first time I’ve ever heard a coach say something like this so openly. 

Leinster could pick three team to be competitive in league and Europe without weakening team. 

It’s nothing to do with who it is Saracens or us if we decided to play a weak side in Europe I would be livid. 

Kid a is spot on. I think the Saracens coach should be applauded. He is governed in part by rules for his English contingent which states that they must get some rest within 3 weeks post the 6 nations. In McCall's view they stand a far better chance of winning something in the Premiership. Makes totals sense to me as Toulon sit 3rd in the pro 14 & Toulouse are 1st. Both are away games.

We have done it twice this season - first in Bayonne & secondly at Gloucester. 

The team v Gloucester was strong as was the Bayonne team. Not to play any of our Welsh internationals would mean carnage.

It’s akin to what happened when Ebbw Vale played in France and because the French team wanted to concentrate on league they were passing the ball to Ebbw Vale players and not bothering to tackle them. Cant remember who it was but was funny to watch. They got ban I believe. 

Agree on Europe but nothing to do with squad size. England internationals have to have a mandatory 1 week break after the 6 nations with Premiership teams being able to pick which week that is.Saracens weren’t going to go for the game at Tottenham stadium where 60000 supporters would be expecting to see their English contingent. That left a choice of either their game at Leicester last weekend or the Toulon game and they have taken the pragmatic decision of selecting their England players for the more winnable of the two - especially as the reward for beating Toulon would probably be an away game at Toulouse.

My comment about budget & squad size was not directly about Saracens more a general observation. Gloucester are flying high in the Premiership at the moment but they sent a very young, inexperienced squad to Vannes & got hammered. Squads like Leinster & Toulouse can fight on all fronts which is why the likely winners of the Champions Cup will come from those two squads along with perhaps Bordeaux. Gone are the days of the Premiership or Welsh teams even thinking they can compete. 

 English and French teams have tended to put out weakened sides in the group stages of the Challenge cup since it started . The present format doesn’t help and what most teams seemed to be doing this season is put out a close on full strength side for the home game and a weakened team away .Realistically there have only been a handful of sides at a point in time who were likely win the Champions cup  with the odd surprise like Ulster and Exeter but I agree since the Premiership started enforcing the salary cap ( Saracens run of success came when they were breaking Premiership but not European rules) the likely winner will be from the teams you mention or another other French team where the owner decides to invest heavily to win.