Sarries' rough Diamond set to shine again

13 April 2012

There is not so much a new broom sweeping through Saracens these days as an industrial cleaner. And Steve Diamond is the man who has come down from the north to operate it.

Uncompromising is a word often used in connection with Diamond, who was a nuggety hooker with Sale throughout the 1990s before joining forces with former team-mate Jim Mallinder to form an impressive coaching partnership at the Cheshire club.

Now, a month into his new job as Saracens forwards coach and head of player recruitment, Diamond is ready to back up his new signings with a brief, but brutally challenging, prediction.

"What we have at the moment is a big club like Saracens languishing second from bottom of the Premiership. Well, it will never happen again while I am here," said Diamond. "And I will stake my reputation on that."

Saracens will welcome new signings Alex Sanderson, Hugh Vyvyan, Dan Scarbrough and Iain Fullarton this summer. Matt Cairns has rejoined, more new faces are promised, and the last weeks of this season are providing Diamond and Rod Kafer, the director of rugby, with the opportunity to assess the current staff. Some new contracts have been handed out, too. Morgan Williams, the 27-year old scrum-half capped 34 times by Canada, signed a new deal yesterday, following prop Ben Broster and centre Paul Bailey.

Again, Diamond is blunt in his assessment of the club's present plight. "I don't think you could say that all is sweetness and light in and around the training ground at the moment," he added. "But when around a third of the players know that they are probably on their way out then that fact is hardly surprising. I have come to Saracens to do a specific job, and I'm already doing it. Players who are staying are players who have always been good players, and they are those who can help to take this club forward.

"My first impressions at Saracens are that the infrastructure is excellent, and that behind the scenes everything is very well run. On the playing side there has been a bit of direction lacking, but Rod and I are also beginning to change things in respect of how the club operates on the playing front. We are now going down a different route.

"Saracens is a great club, with a great name, but it has tended to be a place for established internationals coming to the end of their careers.

"We are now looking at players in their early to mid-20s - guys who are pushing for international honours and who are hungry for success.

"In short, this club is now going to be about creating its own big-name players instead of going out to buy them.

"Jim and I enjoyed a successful time at Sale, and it was disappointing for me that I had to leave. But I have joined Saracens at absolutely the best time, because the club simply must start to lose its tag of being English rugby's perennial underachievers. And, believe you me, I am not in the business of walking away from the success achieved at Sale over the past three years to come to a place where I can't do even better than that. My brief is to get Saracens competing again at the highest level, and I know that people will want to come to play for Rod and me."

Diamond's desire to give more youthful players their chance was evident when several youngsters - including Watford Grammar School No8 Don Barrell - appeared in last week's defeat at Northampton.

Barrell became Sarries' youngest Premiership player at 18 years and 53 days, and Diamond said: "Don, Matt Honeyben and Tom Lawy all did well, and preventing Northampton from getting a bonus point was very creditable.

"But I'm looking forward to seeing how we perform at home to Gloucester tomorrow, especially with Richard Hill back from England duty and our England Under-21s, Ben Skirving and Ben Russell, available. It's a huge game."

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