Mark McCall

I've already mentioned a couple of times about Sione's.

So no, I was much less optimistic when we went up to Bedford and were so bad, Mark McCall absolutely upbraided the team in a, an SSA public meeting.

I actually think that the preseason has been very well managed, you know, and I think we can go places from here.

I think as people probably know by now, I spend a, a, a lot of the summer in, in the south of France, and while I was there, Bath were on a preseason tour, and one of their games was a few weeks ago, was against Perpignan the week before Perpignan's opening league game.

Uh, let's rattle through the other three teams that you've mentioned in terms of being the ones that a key mark- like, they have to improve or, or key markers of what the table's gonna look like, of who, who does better out of Sale, Sarries, and Gloucester.

Shall we start with Sarries, the new era post Mark McCall? On paper, strong squad.

Yeah, it does look g- I mean, they've lost Tom Willis, but then you add Barbarian, you go, "Okay, that's a lot of carry."

Thomas Williams been one of the best nines in the league.

But that's, that start of that season, I got offered a contract and, um- I got offered two co- I got offered one by Leinster and one by Ulster.

Mark McCall was, was the under 21s coach and then became the Ulster coach at the time.

Um, and, uh, so I had two contracts in my...

I was in third year of college, and dad was like, "Uh, no, you're not taking that." [laughs] And yeah, and you- I, I like probably the last time I listened to my dad, but, um-

Um, where I think Leicester, you may see the opposite and you may see them really concentrate on the league and kind of build into that, as has been the case I think over the last few years.

The, the Saracens is, you know, with Mark McCall going, like, again, comes back to World Cup year.

There's a, there's some-

Mm

Yeah.

You know, that will be his, his plan will be to go to, with England to a World Cup and, and, and try and win it.

I-- When someone's been there for so long like Mark McCall, and then someone comes in, it's Brendan Fentress coming in, who's- Being involved with a game, but not-

Yeah

Well, I imagine so.

And I mean, obviously you've got Brendan Venter coming back in after Mark McCall's reign.

I mean- Has there been a change in the way that the squad is, is developing under Brendan, or is it just a bit of a e- evolution really?

Yeah, I think evolution's the right way.