Saracens boss McCall eager to stay, but acknowledges future of England stars uncertain

Mark McCall has made it clear he intends to remain with Saracens following their relegation, but the director of rugby acknowledges the future of his club’s biggest stars may be influenced by England head coach Eddie Jones.

A Premiership Rugby statement on Saturday confirmed Sarries will be demoted from the top flight at the end of the 2019-20 season, following multiple breaches of the competition’s salary cap.

Six members of the England team that started last year’s World Cup final play for European champions, including captain Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje and Mako and Billy Vunipola, with significant uncertainty now surrounding their futures.

The London club will not be eligible to play in next term’s Champions Cup once they are in the second tier of English rugby, meaning the likes of Farrell and Itoje face a year away from elite club competitions should they stay put.

In an interview with BT Sport ahead of his team’s crunch clash with Racing 92 on Sunday, McCall said: “Obviously the news has just come in the last 48 hours, so there’s a lot of thinking for us to do and a lot of decisions to make.

“And every player’s situation is slightly different – what happens to our established internationals? What does Eddie Jones want to happen to our established internationals, et cetera. et cetera.

“But those decisions and those conversations I think are for another day. Today we just try and get on with the rugby.”

Asked about his own future, McCall added: “The one thing now, it feels like there’s a line drawn in the sand. We have some real clarity around the future and we can plan for that future and I really want to be part of that.

“I don’t think this is the best time to be pointing fingers or trying to apportion blame. This is a time for unity and togetherness. We’ve got this remarkable playing group who over the last 10 weeks have shown, I think, an incredible amount of resilience given all of the stuff that’s been going on off the field.”

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