No regrets for Saracens winger Sean Maitland ahead of Champions Cup final

After winning the Junior World Championships with the ‘Baby Blacks’, he then picked up a Super Rugby title with the Crusaders in 2008 at the first time of asking so it appeared a bold decision when Sean Maitland packed his bags and dragged his missus halfway across the globe to the land of his grandfather.

Scotland's Sean Maitland will play in the Champions Cup final for Saracens. Pic: SNS/Paul Devlin

Hindsight suggests he knew what he was doing, especially given what he has achieved, for clubs and country, since arriving on these shores.

He joined Glasgow in 2012 and helped them to the Pro12 title in 2015 although injuries severely restricted his appearances that season. In 2013 he scored a try at Twickenham on his Scotland debut and he toured Australia with the British and Irish Lions that very same year. He signed a long-term deal with London Irish for the 2016-17 season but England’s best, and best-heeled club, plucked him out of the Exiles after one year and he has been at Saracens ever since.

“There have definitely been no regrets, coming over here was an easy decision,” says Maitland from his home in St Albans. “My Scottish heritage is something that has always been a big part of my life growing up from my dad and my grandparents.

“It is just fitting that my grandparents left Glasgow 40 years ago and I have done it in reverse order, coming from New Zealand to Glasgow and obviously achieving what I have over here. It’s gone so fast, I was talking to my wife, I think it’s been seven years we’ve been here. This is definitely home.”

He says this last part while acknowledging that the family plan a speedy return to New Zealand once his career in Europe draws to a close.

“I kinda promised my wife that if I brought her over to the other side of the world, after it’s all done, we will head back to her family.”

For a player who has achieved so much in the game, the Kiwi winger has yet to experience winning a Champions Cup final, so next weekend’s showdown with Leinster in Newcastle is an obvious target for him. Admittedly Maitland has a medal from 2017 but it rings a little hollow as he explains.

“I had a problem with my ankle,” the winger says, talking about that 2017 final which saw Saracens beat Clermont in Edinburgh. “I got injured the week before the final, I was gutted. I had played every European game and I was really excited about a Heineken Cup final at Murrayfield, it would have been very special.

“We had a Premiership game against Wasps and I had a syndesmosis [a twist higher up the leg] injury to my ankle and had surgery on the Monday after the final.

“I got a medal and all the boys were really supportive but I was still going to be gutted that I was not on the pitch for the last game. Fingers crossed next weekend I’ll be in the mix.”

Fingers crossed he will because although the winger is only 30 he has a few miles on the clock and they are beginning to show. The heel injury that restricted his Six Nations appearances is still troubling him but the hamstring strain that saw him pull up in the warm up before that Munster semi-final has settled down and, as he says, Maitland is keen to be involved in the matchday squad come next Saturday.

He understands how fortunate he has been with his career to date, landing marmalade side up at Saracens, relishing the environment at the club even if, like many of his colleagues, he is less adept when it comes to explaining just what it is that makes the club so special.

“I think it’s just built up over the last ten to 12 years,” he says of Saracens’ success.

“When Sarries were not as strong, Brendan Venter came in with Nigel Wray the owner and they wanted to create a club that is all about making memories off the field as well as on it, just working hard for each other.

“When did they win the first Premiership, in 2011 was it? That sort of set the tone and they probably weren’t as big spenders then as they are now. Look at that squad, there were probably no England players. [There were a few: Owen Farrell, Steve Borthwick, Matt Stevens and others].

“Guys like Schalk Brits and Neil de Kock came over here and made a difference. But why is it a special club? I think it is all down to the players, there are some big characters in the team. Everyone gets treated the same, everyone wants to work hard and get better, our values are something we always talk about and strive to achieve, not just on the field but off the field.

“You have probably heard about these trips we go on! They make a lot of special memories.”

With the Premiership ongoing no one in the camp dared lift their eyes to look ahead to the Champions Cup final against Leinster on Saturday but, even if they did, Maitland insists that Saracens’ schtick remains much the same.

“We all know that their back three are very strong, they are pretty much everywhere,” says Maitland on next weekend’s Irish rivals. “It’s gonna be a cracking game isn’t it? They play with a lot of width and with Johnny Sexton running the show, he’s a triple threat [kick/pass/run] with all the right options and variations in width.

“Nothing really changes for us with all the stuff that you don’t really see, trying to get the ball back, trying to kick on our terms, we are not going to change too much.

“It’s great, isn’t it, Newcastle’s St James’ Park. I was lucky enough to play against Samoa in the World Cup there. It was a great stadium, a great atmosphere.

“Leinster are a quality outfit and it’s going to be a great game, hopefully it’s a nice dry ball and may the best team win!”