Sean Maitland: Saracens made an offer I couldn’t refuse

Sean Maitland has described joining Saracens as “too good an opportunity to pass up” as he targets a repeat of last season’s double-winning success.
Scotland and British Lions star Maitland concedes the responsibility of playing for a trophy-laden side weighs heavily, but is confident of adding to Sarries’ all-conquering mix after making the switch from relegated London Irish over the summer.
He told The Rugby Paper: “Yes, you do feel that pressure because standards are so high, everything’s so professional and it’s a club that’s used to winning trophies.
“Saracens want to win more but that’s one of the main reasons I wanted to come here and talking to Duncan Taylor, Jim Hamilton and Kelly Brown, guys I know well from playing for Scotland with, you always hear about how much fun they have.
“I’m really excited about the season ahead. You play rugby to win trophies and create memories and I feel there’s plenty more to come from me.
“It’s obviously a shame what happened with London Irish. It was a good club and they looked after me very well, but things just didn’t work out.
“I considered my options to stay but when Saracens showed interest I was pretty keen to talk to them, and after that I was adamant I wanted to join.
“It was too good an opportunity to pass up, but I’m confident Irish will bounce back under guys who love the club like Nick Kennedy and Dec Danaher.”
Maitland faces a huge battle to dislodge England‘s Alex Goode if he is to occupy his favoured No.15 jersey, but is relishing the hard road ahead.
“Alex Goode is a quality player who was the Premiership‘s player-of-the-year last season, but fullback’s my favourite position,” Maitland said.
“You get a lot more opportunities to be involved from there, but I know how good Alex is, especially off counter-attack, and he sets the tone there.
“I’m pretty chilled out about where I play, though, and if it’s on the wing I’ll be equally happy as I just want to play and improve myself as a player.
“There’s a lot of quality in the Saracens’ back three but, at 27, I feel I’m coming into my prime now and I want to be part of something special.”
Meanwhile, Maitland hopes his old boss at Glasgow, Gregor Townsend, left, can find a way onto the Lions coaching team for next summer’s tour of New Zealand.
Townsend will take over from Vern Cotter as Scotkand coach in 2017 and Maitland added: “Gregor’s done great things at Glasgow and he’s a really good technical coach who’s great on attack and knows how he wants to play.
“It doesn’t surprise me that his name is being mentioned for the Lions and if he is involved he’ll fit in well and get the boys playing good stuff.”
NEALE HARVEY