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Saracens united after ‘motivated’ Billy Vunipola powers way into final | Paul Rees


The closest Munster got to Saracens was when one of their supporters clad in the province’s red jersey came within a few metres of Billy Vunipola at the end of the match and wagged a finger at the No 8 who at the start of the week had been tangled up in the Israel Folau affair.

Vunipola’s support of the post from the Australia full-back that called on sinners to repent earned him a rebuke from his club and a formal warning from his union. It put Saracens on the back foot at the start of their preparations for the European Champions Cup semi-final, but a club that has become one of the best in Europe through its ability to dig deep became even stronger.

“We have come through a lot over the years,” said Vunipola’s back-row colleague Jackson Wray after the 32-16 victory over Munster at the Ricoh Arena that took Saracens to a fourth Champions Cup final in six years. “Billy has been in the media a lot recently and it hit him hard but as a group it made us even tighter. When something like that happens, we use our energy from within.”

Munster had again made the last four by rising above themselves. Their love affair with the tournament makes them formidably hard to beat, even when they are comprehensively outplayed as they were on Saturday. They kept going in the unseasonal heat of an April afternoon and remained in contention until nine minutes from time when Billy Vunipola, who had been booed every time he touched the ball, powered his way over the line through battered bodies.

“Billy had a great game,” Wray said. “We expected we would be outnumbered in terms of fans and that he would get booed. There was nothing new there. When he gets on the field he just plays his game. We are there to support him and I think we did that well.”

Vunipola was named the man of the match. He was one of several candidates, but at the end of a week in which he had been the centre of media attention, it was hard to shake off the belief that a reason he had been nominated was that it required him to conduct an immediate post-match interview. It was when he had just finished it and was joining his teammates who were acknowledging the Saracens’ fans that a supporter came on to the pitch to confront him.

“People booing motivated me,” said Vunipola, who admitted that the confrontation with the fan was scary. “I wanted to back up my words and show my teammates that I did not mean to distract them. People say I put my foot in it, so I have to deal with it. It is not something I am afraid of and I have to expect that it will keep happening.”

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Eleven years before in Coventry, Saracens had lost to Munster in the semi-finals, playing the underdog role to the full and pressing for victory at the end. The roles were reversed this time and it was Munster who plugged their fingers in the dyke to head off the flood, as they had tried to in 2017 in Dublin when losing by the same points margin.

“You would like to think we have improved since then,” said Mark McCall, the Saracens director of rugby. “Individually our players are better than they were and I think that we showed we are collectively as well. We can perform well when we need to.

“This group has been through a lot together and it has not all been good. Some of it has been painful, such as losing two consecutive finals. It has made us tight and what I witnessed this week was players sticking by each other. We do not get things right all of the time and people make mistakes but we do not discard them. We stick by them and that is the hallmark of a rugby team.”

So Saracens march on to another final having all but booked a home tie in the Premiership play-offs. Their class overcame Munster’s rugged defiance and a team who set themselves targets will be bringing goals to Newcastle next month.



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