Always a Wasp

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Saracens? work hard, play hard culture is much lauded, but now feels tainted

Insider adamant that despite Billy Vunipola?s conviction, the team bonding sessions have fuelled their era of unprecedented success
Ben Coles, Rugby Reporter 8 May 2024 ? 6:57am


During an interview last week following his arrest after a drunken disagreement in a Majorcan bar, the Saracens No 8 Billy Vunipola, clearly remorseful for his actions after being tasered twice at half four in the morning by Spanish police, made the following remarks during a lengthy apology. ?I caused a huge amount of embarrassment and put a spotlight on the club when they were trying to do something nice for us... I ruined it for myself and for everyone else.?

Those comments help convey how important Saracens? team socials are to their players, aware that a negative spotlight was now shining on their mid-season trips abroad with the positive benefits pushed to one side.

Twice each season ? once during the campaign and another during the off-season ? the Saracens squad have gone abroad for similar trips, seen as valuable chances to bond off the field.

To be clear, Vunipola had splintered off from the rest of the group and was accompanied by one other player, prop Marco Riccioni. Based on the account provided by the owner of the Epic bar in Palma, Riccioni conducted himself impeccably and tried to assist as much as he could, albeit to no avail. Vunipola, drinking for the first time in months and continually refusing to put his shirt back on, was tasered twice and then arrested, sedated, bailed, fined by a court and released with a suspended four-month prison sentence.


Building a strong culture has been an integral part of Saracens? rise to the top over the past two decades, from the creation of the Wolfpack defence to the introduction of the Tiki Tonga celebration, around the same time of the first Saracens trip to Cape Town all the way back in 2009, which was markedly different to how Vunipola?s night finished.

The squad trained, did some community work building houses in a township and, yes, had some nights out. As the team became more successful in the early 2010s, the time available to make those trips happen decreased and they instead became mid-season events; finding weekends in the schedule, or Sunday-Monday trips if the squad had played on a Saturday.
?You get to know them on a deeper level?

?They became more like blowouts,? as one source who has been part of previous trips put it to Telegraph Sport, before adding that the ethos from the original idea to Cape Town remained the same. ?The basic principle was that you spend time together away from your families, your worries, just the boys together. You have some drinks, it does relax people, you become closer and more connected. You understand their motivations, what inspires them, anything that goes on in their family life ? you get to know them on a deeper level.?

Players would be given conversation cards which had to be kept on them at all times; some light-hearted, some deeper, from what superhero they would be to their greatest fear. There would be group lunches with other players they did not know as well, spending time with younger players in the squad but also the club?s coaching staff.

The source adds: ?If you have that increase in motivation and deeper respect for each other, that brotherhood, then in those toughest moments you will fight for that person even more. That?s the difference between winning and losing the biggest moments.?

Since the trips were first introduced, Saracens? players and management have been to around 20 locations. There has been skiing in Verbier (without much skiing), a music festival in Chicago, spending 36 hours in Barcelona, time training in Florida with the Miami Dolphins.

When the England head coach Steve Borthwick was Saracens captain he was due to attend the 2010 Heineken Cup launch in Cardiff, only to pull out at the last minute to attend what was described by Saracens at the time as an ?important squad meeting?. In Munich. At Oktoberfest. Saracens were fined ?4,240 by tournament organisers; money well spent, they would argue, given that led by Borthwick they went on to win the Premiership title for the first time the following summer.

In the ensuing 15 years since that first squad trip up Table Mountain, Saracens have won more trophies than any other English club with six league titles (having made a further three finals), and three European Cups in the space of four years. When the trips have gone well, which they have almost all of the time, they appear to be a resounding success.
?Usually it is self-policed?

The source added: ?Obviously, there?s been incidents. Of course, there have been times when people have gone too far, but usually, touch wood, it is self-policed ? the boys get the boys home. The golden rule we say on the trips is to look after each other and make sure we get home OK, have each other?s backs.? Hence the sight of Riccioni on the bar?s CCTV, having done what he could, watching Vunipola?s arrest unfold.

The club?s relationship historically with alcohol had been viewed in a positive light ? think Alex Goode?s multi-day session after Saracens? European Cup triumph in 2019, still in his full kit by Monday evening. It is therefore unfortunate timing, to say the least, that Vunipola?s arrest for disobedience and assaulting a police officer comes a year after Kapeli Pifeleti, the Saracens hooker, plead guilty to assaulting someone on a night out in Clapham, resulting in a fine from the courts and a formal warning from the club.

Vunipola?s arrest has been swiftly dealt with and was obviously serious ? give he was tasered twice by police officers ? although it pales in comparison with the 2015 incident involving a fire extinguisher in Budapest which ended up finishing the career of the club?s flanker, Matt Hankin, after a drinking game went too far. Wearing a metal helmet, Hankin received a ?tap on the head?, according to the High Court judgment, from the fire extinguisher delivered by another player and suffered a concussion. He was erroneously cleared to return to play ahead of schedule, diagnosed with sinusitis, before suffering another concussion and being forced to retire. Hankin went on to sue the team-mate who instigated the original concussion, Richard Barrington, the club?s doctor who cleared him, Ademola Adejuwon, and Saracens for ?3.15m. The case was settled out of court, with Barrington and Adejuwon paying damages.

?It was a sad tale about someone?s career. Now, that is one black mark, which isn?t really related to a trip, I would say, because [the issue] was what happened when he got back,? the source adds. ?Yeah, there are times where people might have a fall or stuff like that, but generally no injuries, no issues. The boys appreciate that we?re very lucky to go on these trips. It is what people love doing, it?s really exciting and it?s fun. You do feel really connected.

?[Billy] was a public one, but there are certainly a lot more positives than negatives and players really believe in [the team socials]. It?s very hard to quantify, but they have a huge impact in terms of togetherness, knowing each other better, having fun together, feeling as though you are part of the whole group. Those players who are injured or not involved as much, they feel part of it and train harder, push the team harder, and the whole group moves as one altogether, which is so important.?

After Vunipola?s actions the team socials naturally feel a little tarnished, hence the No 8?s obvious contrition. It?s a feeling which will probably take many incident-free excursions to shift. However the purpose of them, and the ensuing success Saracens have had on the field, despite what happened in Majorca should not be overlooked.

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