Filed under: Rugby Union, Premiership, Australia Rugby
It's a Premiership final. Every I needs to be dotted, every T needs to be crossed. And, crucially, if something worked in previous games, the coach must make sure the team keep doing it until it doesn't work.Even if it means choosing members of your first XV on the toss of a coin. Because that is how Saracens will decide who gets to start at scrum-half for Saturday's final against Leicester at Twickenham.
Richard Wigglesworth and Neil De Kock are the two in the running for the No.9 shirt, with the former having started 31 times and the latter 26 this season. Both have been capped by their countries and are "world class", according to director of rugby Mark McCall.
McCall is adamant that it is so difficult to choose between them, that he decided who would start in the semi-final against Gloucester on the toss of a coin. Wigglesworth called right that day, but was replaced after just under an hour.
The Saracens director of rugby said: "We made a very deliberate decision that we wouldn't change anything for semi-final or final. In both those games there's been the toss of a coin.
"We're very fortunate we've got two world class scrum-halves who have rotated evenly throughout the year. They'll both contribute in the final, they're evenly matched."
In this era of video analysis, VO2 measuring and GPS tagging - all of which mean a Premiership coach knows all he needs and more about the players at his disposal - to pick a player on the toss of a coin seems anachronistic.
De Kock is the older of the two at 32, and has made ten Springbok appearances. He has been at Saracens for five years, as opposed to Wigglesworth, 27, who arrived from Sale Sharks at the beginning of the season.
But McCall says neither has claims to be first choice this season - as is borne out by their almost equal number of appearances. One thing Wigglesworth does have over his team mate is the ability to kick for goal in the instance that Owen Farrell is indisposed.
But McCall insists there is nothing to separate the pair, adding: "We don't have a number one and we weren't going to change that policy for the final."
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