Saracens have taken their use of innovations in their pursuit of a Heineken Cup and Aviva Premiership double to new extremes by bringing in a pair of wolves to a team meeting to illuminate their “wolf pack” defensive philosophy.
Saracens on alert: (from left) Will
Fraser, David Strettle, John Smit and Owen Farrell with one of two
wolves delivered to their dressing room
Photo: MATTHEW IMPEY
02 Apr 2013
The use of the wild animals before Saracens’ Premiership victory over
Harlequins 10 days ago was the brainchild of defence coach Paul Gustard, who
masterminded the reward system for players who make the most dominant and
impactful tackles.
The meeting, which was held a week before Saracens spent three days on a club
bonding session at the Swiss ski resort of Verbier, where they went
tobogganing, paragliding and skiing, left a lasting impression on England
fly-half Owen Farrell. “There are not many normal meetings here,” Farrell said after a training
session for Saturday’s Heineken Cup quarter-final against Ulster at
Twickenham.
“We talked about the power of the wolf and why we picked our defence to be a
wolf pack then suddenly Gussie [Gustard] brought two wolves in! They are
pretty fierce animals and I was a bit on edge. Maybe I shouldn’t have picked
to sit in the front row that day. The words that Guzzy said meant a lot. There is a reason why we call
ourselves the wolf pack but to actually have the wolves there was a bit
scary, so I couldn’t really relax"
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