Saracens aim to complete historic European and domestic double in Premiership final

The Hendon-based side beat French outfit Racing 92 to lift the Champions Cup a fortnight ago, and they then beat Leicester 44-17 in Saturday’s top-flight semi-final.

Chris Wyles touched down twice in the first half, while Will Fraser and Chris Ashton also went over the line to give Sarries a commanding 31-0 lead at the interval.

And, although Leicester’s Telusa Veainu and Dom Barrow replied to narrow the deficit, Ashton’s second try removed any doubt about the result to set up a showdown with Exeter Chiefs this weekend.

Saracens are now bidding to become the first English team in 12 years to win both the European and Premiership titles – and the reigning domestic champions are also hoping to become the first side in six years to successfully defend the title.

Director of rugby Mark McCall admits he had some concerns about Sarries’ recent schedule in the build-up to Saturday’s semi-final – but he is now confident that his players are ready to secure more silverware.

“[Last week was the one] I was worried about to be honest because obviously the players celebrated – as they should have done after winning the [European] final last week – for a couple of days,” he said.

“Leicester had had some time to prepare for this game and we’d had a shorter preparation time so that was the one that I was worried about.

“We’re delighted to be in another final and I think we’ll have no problems getting the players up for things this week.

“We do have a very experienced group in these play-off matches now and the talk in the changing room at the end of the match… It wasn’t a jubilant changing room, it was a changing room that recognised that we need to be better at certain things.

“We were pretty nervous when it was 31-17 with half an hour to go. It might have been the worst moment of all our careers if [a comeback] had happened but thankfully we had enough class in the team to make sure that didn’t happen.”