On a rainy evening in pre-season, there was a thrilling glimpse of Saracens’ future as Jack Bracken put a brilliant try past Cornish Pirates. The London club have slid below their trophy-winning standards since they landed a sixth Premiership title in 2023 but there is mounting evidence that for Sarries, the future is now.
Bracken’s try against second-tier opposition at the Mennaye Field in Penzance shouldn’t be taken as high-level proof, of course, but the way the 20-year-old caught a clearing kick on the halfway line, and hurtled on a diagonal line straight to the far left-hand corner, was a symbol of the young talent that coaches and fans alike are raving about at Saracens. This reporter was on a terrace watching, directly behind Bracken’s coruscating angle of attack, and even the locals broke into applause.
Saracens were fielding a mix of veterans, Owen Farrell and Elliot Daly playing alongside exciting youngsters like Bracken’s 22-year-old scrum-half brother Charlie, although last season’s breakout star and new England cap Noah Caluori was missing with an arm injury. They’ll have to wait a little longer for the youngest Bracken, 17-year-old Lochlan – all are sons of ex-England No 9 Kyran – but Sarries’ head coach Joe Shaw is not hiding his enthusiasm.
“Of course, we’ve got players that have been there and done it, and got the experience in the Premiership and Europe,” Shaw tells The i Paper.
Saracens have a talented crop of youngsters already breaking into the first team (Photo: Getty)“But as we’ve seen with Saracens players of yesteryear, our academy has played such a huge role in the success and the history of the club. And if players are ready to go, it’s like you saw with Tobias Elliott last year, Noah Caluori getting decent game-time, Jack Bracken got game-time but had injuries, and Charlie Bracken became our starting nine at the back end of last season, though still a young man.
“Then we’ve got excitement around [second row] Olamide Sodeke, and Mitch [22-year-old back-rower Nathan Michelow], and the list goes on. It was really nice to see Toby Knight get on the field after being out with injury, and Fraser Rawlins and Mathis Dehauteur – two guys playing their first game of men’s rugby. Mathis was calling the line-out, and with that bit of exposure we try and take as much fear away from them as we can. The excitement around these young guys coming through our academy now is very good.”
There have been significant changes at Saracens after their successive Prem finishes of fourth, sixth and fifth: Brendan Venter has returned from his medical practice in South Africa to succeed Mark McCall as director of rugby, with new faces as chief executive, chief operating officer, and in marketing and communications. But some familiar mainstays remain, including Shaw and assistant coaches Dan Vickers, Ian Peel, Adam Powell and Rob Webber.
Venter told the squad in pre-season: “I don’t want to be [just] competitive in this league. I want to f**king dominate. This team is something special and I have not come all this way to be average.”
Venter has to fill the big shoes of Mark McCall after a return to a full-time role at Saracens (Photo: Getty)Jez Denton from the Saracens pod “Fezcast” says he loves that attitude. “It’s in the old Saracens manner that Brendan set up in the first place [in his original stint from 2009 to 2011, after which he remained an advisor]: that he wants them to enjoy themselves and be looked after, but they’re also here to win.
“Last season we saw the beginning of the fruition of the youngsters coming through, and I want to see the likes of Tobias Elliott, Noah Caluori, Olly Hartley and Charlie Bracken given the opportunity to kick on. In a couple of seasons, they’ll be back up there challenging for honours, I’m pretty confident about that.”
Leavers from Saracens include Tom Willis, Marco Riccioni, Theo McFarland, Alex Lozowski and Ivan van Zyl. The best-known new signings are Wales scrum-half Tomos Williams, England forward George Martin and No 8 for England “A” Alfie Barbeary.
Can Barbeary fill the boots of the mighty Willis, who drove Sarries forward for the last three years?
Serious new threads. pic.twitter.com/iE16SdPwyK
— Saracens Rugby Club (@Saracens) August 18, 2026Denton says: “The saving grace there is that George Martin is a big signing for us. He’s going to be a ball carrier, and in that Tom Willis role, albeit from a different position on the field.
“And look out for Nathan Michelow. I think he will have a big season, and he’s definitely a future club captain. He’s vocal around thegroup, which with all of that experience around him is really big. Last year he was coming on for Tom Willis at the end of games and you weren’t seeing a drop-off which is phenomenal considering who he was replacing.”
The 6ft 9ins Sodeke is Saracens’ new rep on the board of the Rugby Players’ Association. But how about on the field? Will all these young guns fire a more expansive style, maybe suiting the running of fly-half Fergus Burke?
“Well, they add to the product that you’ve already got,” Shaw says. “We’ve always been a team for the last decade and more that scored a hell a lot of tries. Last year we walked away with the top try-scorer in the league [Caluori]. And we scored 74 per cent of our tries within three or four phases.
“But this is real speed – your Jack Brackens, your Tobias Elliotts, and Noah, and don’t forget Roti Segun on the other wing. When you give these guys opportunities to play into the space, there’s a real excitement and electricity about where we could take our game. These young guys are fearless, and just desperate to play. It makes the club really healthy.”
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Big read: ‘I’m not Ryan Reynolds’: Why Nick Knowles is doing it himself at a rugby club Explained: I subscribed to every rugby TV channel and it cost me £1068 – it’s a big problemItoje has challenged the squad to be “positive and forward-facing”, whether they are up or down. Farrell in training implored them to “double down on the simplicity, the intensity”.
Venter has said there will be a couple of surprises in the team to face Leicester Tigers when the Prem kicks off in the last week of September.
“Brendan brings energy and fairness,” says Shaw.
“And he was very clear at the start of pre-season that everybody will get an opportunity, and the form players will play at the start of the season.
“What has been really good for our youngsters is Maro [Itoje] didn’t tour [with England], so he’s been on the ground since day one, and with Owen Farrell and Elliot Daly, you’re talking about three three-time British Lions in the building from day one.
“Add in Max Malins and Andy Onyeama-Christie, and these are people with international experience, good people that will sit with the young lads outside of the training times and put real time and effort into their education and learnings, and what it takes to be a Saracen. That kind of stuff is invaluable.”
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