Opportunity knocks for Saracens back-row duo Andy Christie and Sean Reffell with stars away at Rugby World Cup
While the eyes of the rugby world are on Japan, the new domestic season has quietly begun back here in England.
The Premiership Rugby Cup, brought forward due to the World Cup and the resulting delayed start of the Premiership, got underway last weekend.
And while the usual stars of the domestic stage are halfway around the planet vying for the Webb Ellis Cup, there is an opportunity for the younger and peripheral players to make a lasting impression.
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This is particularly the case at Saracens, who have 15 squad members in Japan.
Among those hoping to use the coming weeks as a springboard to break into the matchday squad come the Premiership’s later start date of 18 October are back-row duo Andy Christie and Sean Reffell.
First taste
The pair, both 20 and both flankers, had their first taste of Premiership action last season having risen through the club’s esteemed academy.
Reffell made a name for himself when he set a new club record for most tackles in a single match, with 39 in the Premiership Rugby Cup semi-final win against Worcester last season.
He made his Premiership debut just weeks later as a replacement against Exeter Chiefs and went on to be named the club’s academy player of the year.
Similarly, Christie came on for Schalk Burger in the final Premiership game of the regular season, a move lent extra symbolism by the 36-year-old South African having since hung up his boots.
“You don’t really expect it because there’s such depth in the squad,” Reffell tells Morning Wire “So when you’re told you’re going to be playing or on the bench, you’re just straight away thinking about the opportunity you’re going to get. You train all year, but you never think you’ll be involved in a Premiership match.”
Progressing together
Both have progressed through the academy simultaneously after attending Harrow together on scholarships, having both come from non-traditional public school backgrounds.
Christie, whose mother is English and father is Nigerian, and Reffell, who previously attended a south-east London comprehensive, featured in Saracens’ run to winning the Premiership Rugby Shield – formerly the A League – which runs parallel with the Premiership proper.
Neither of them are old enough to remember England’s 2003 winning World Cup campaign, but they are hoping this year’s tournament can provide them the platform to prove themselves at Saracens.
“These games coming up now are a great opportunity,” Christie says.
“We’ve got the Premiership Cup games coming up first. Whether it’s A League, Premiership Cup or Premiership, whenever you’re playing, especially in a Saracens shirt, you’ve got a chance to show what you can do.
“I just want to do my best at the start of the season from the Premiership Cup, and hopefully if I do well enough I’ll get an opportunity [in the Premiership], but I’ve got those hurdles to get over first.”
Reffell says the cup competition, which is typically a chance for fringe players, a “great opportunity” to play with senior squad members.
The pair both started in Saracens’ 50-28 demolition of Wasps last weekend in the tournament’s opening round.
“You play with some of the senior lads that might not play an A League game, so you’re always learning a lot off them. And there’s more people coming to those matches, they’re bigger occasions, great experiences,” Reffell says.
Vunipola’s help
It is not just during games that the flankers learn from their more experienced team-mates, though, with Christie revealing he regularly sits down with England No8 Billy Vunipola to look at his game.
“I often get Billy Vunipola to go over my games with me because obviously their knowledge is far beyond what yours is and they’ve played at such a high level so you try to take away as much as you can,” Christie says.
“There’s quite a few [who help]. George Kruis is great for line-out, Maro as well. In terms of structural play, people like Faz [Owen Farrell] and Wiggy [Richard Wigglesworth], when they give something it’s often very useful too.”
Along with Vunipola, Christie looks up to players such as New Zealand flanker Ardie Savea as well as Wales and Bath No8 Taulupe Faletau and compares his own playing style to that of team-mate Jackson Wray.
Reffell, by contrast, likens himself to Australia workhorse Michael Hooper. “He’s not the biggest player, but he has a great work ethic and always gives 100 per cent,” he says.
The England U20 internationals may both play in the back row – Christie preferring No7 and Reffell No6 – but their rise since Harrow has created a strong bond rather than any sense of rivalry.
“He’s my best mate,” Christie jokes. “No, but we are very close. It’s been very helpful, especially as we play in the same position. Most days we’ll do extra training together and spend a lot of time off the pitch together.
“You want each other to do well. At the end of the day if you both reach your full potential, you like to think there’s space for both of you if you’re good enough. And we are technically different positions and very different players.”
Opportunity beckons
There appears every reason for them to believe they will make it into the Saracens first team given the club’s track record of promoting from within. Farrell, Jamie George, Kruis and Itoje have all risen from the academy to the England first-team.
“It’s massively inspiring. I know lads that aren’t that much older than us, like Nick Isiekwe, have already done amazing at the club and he’s still so young,” Reffell says.
“They’ve been in your position, so it’s not quite touching distance, but you know if you work hard and do the right things you can be in that situation too.”
Both are entering the final year of their contracts and are playing for a renewal as much as anything else.
While that may turn out to be a formality, their long-term goals are to follow in the footsteps of those England internationals before them, starting with breaking into the Saracens first team.
“You don’t play for a club, especially one like this that’s so successful, and hope not to take it further,” Christie says.
“We don’t want to rest on our laurels and let those guys play every game, we want to compete for spots and get to the same level as them.”
While the World Cup is ongoing and the senior players away, opportunity knocks to do just that.