Aviva Premiership full of quality teams - Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall
ByPA Sport
Published 19/04/2016 at 16:33 GMT
Mark McCall believes English dominance of the Champions Cup could support his belief that this is the strongest season in Aviva Premiership history.
Mark McCall's Saracens face Wasps at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday
Image credit: PA Sport
Mark McCall believes English dominance of the Champions Cup could support his belief that this is the strongest season in Aviva Premiership history.
McCall's Saracens face Wasps at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday and 24 hours later the second semi-final sees Leicester clash with Racing 92 - the only non-domestic club to survive in the competition - at the City Ground.
The presence of three Premiership teams at this stage and a guaranteed finalist is unprecedented, and McCall believes the top-flight may explain the success.
"We'll truly see if this season is exceptional over the coming years," said Sarries director of rugby McCall.
"But it's a good sign because the questions being asked over the last couple of years have been about why can't English teams get into the quarter-finals and semi-finals?
"It is very encouraging - just look at the way Wasps played in a really tough group for example. We've seen the English clubs in a good light.
"This season feels like it has been the best Premiership. All the way down the league there are good teams…right down to ninth and 10th position."
Saracens fell to Toulon in the 2014 final and have lost on all three other appearances in the last four, but McCall believes the club may now be ready to profit from the experience learned during those defeats.
"It feels like everybody has got better. We feel like we've done it the right way - organically," McCall said.
"If you look all the way through our starting XV it's packed full of people who have come through our academy. They've shared one hell of a lot of experiences together.
"A lot of good ones and the odd unbelievably disappointing one, but that has made them tighter and stronger. Hopefully, we'll see evidence of that on Saturday."
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