Schalk Burger has a vineyard that sprawls over 180 hectares of Western Cape countryside waiting for him as soon as he decides to retire. Had he taken what he calls “the easy option” he would be winding down the clock right now and topping up the bank balance in Japan rather than preparing for a European quarter-final. But there is an unmistakable twinkle in his eye as he explains at Saracens’ sodden training ground that, with his 35th birthday only a couple of weeks away, he is due to sign on for another year in north London.
For apart from the poor weather which he describes as “one heck of a spring” that has meant “I’ve never played so little golf in my life”, Burger has relished his time at Saracens. The former South Africa flanker banked one European title last season and Saracens are now well set for the Premiership run-in, but it was the disastrous run of seven successive defeats at the end of last year – the low point of which was a 46-14 thumping by Clermont – that reinforced his feelings. That kind of adversity stirred the senses.
“In every season there’s a game when you’re just not on it for some reason and the score blows you out of the water,” he says. “We’re humans, aren’t we? It was good for us to just sit down and simplify our way forward. That’s a nice process, I like that. In the World Cup we lost a game against Japan in Brighton – Eddie Jones has been holding his camps there since – and that was a high-pressure situation. How do you turn it around? It speaks volumes of a group if you can because it would be easier to disintegrate.”
Saracens have pulled off some exceptional away victories in recent years – Burger recalls last season’s Champions Cup win at Toulon and, inevitably, the semi-final triumph over Munster in Dublin that followed has been mentioned frequently this week – but it is hard to escape the feeling that on Sunday against Leinster would be their best to date. For the odds are stacked against England’s only quarter-final representatives, the twice defending champions.
Owen Farrell has been declared fit to play, though it remains to be seen if he is able to kick at goal. He is one of six starters still bearing the scars of England’s humbling by Ireland while 10 of the squad that clinched the grand slam at Twickenham line up for Leinster.
Furthermore, Leinster are the form team in Europe, breezing through what was supposedly the hardest pool with 27 points from a possible 30. Victory over Munster at the Aviva Stadium was hugely impressive last April but when Leinster are at their second home it is an altogether more formidable challenge. Saracens established their European dominance on their ability to thrive in the white heat of knockout rugby, having won their last six do-or-die contests. If their aura has slipped a little this season, then this is the perfect opportunity to restore it.
“The good thing about challenges is that you stand up to them,” Burger adds. “You shouldn’t let the opposition down. All the years from playing against the All Blacks, learning what the haka stands for, the biggest thing we focused on was don’t disappoint the All Blacks with what you bring to it. This weekend is a similar sort of challenge. They are expecting us to come there and be a hell of a competitor.”
With a taste for the black stuff, Burger always enjoys his trips to Dublin but among those that stand out are South Africa’s narrow defeat in 2009, when he scored the Springboks’ only try at Croke Park. That was the year of Ireland’s previous grand slam before their latest clean sweep and Burger has undoubtedly been impressed with what he has seen in recent weeks.
“What everyone underestimates is how physical they are because you always see the beautiful tries or set pieces, which I think have become a hallmark, or the cross-kicks or the chips in behind, how they find space,” he says. “All of them are super physical and that is where it starts this weekend for us.”
Farrell’s rematch with Johnny Sexton is just one of the intriguing match-ups but it again raises the question of whether Premiership players are feeling the strain of too great a workload. Farrell has played 1,084 minutes for his club, this season, Sexton 434, and Burger acknowledges that the domestic campaign in England is gruelling.
“It’s a massive challenge, physically and mentally, then Europe is the icing on the cake, when you are playing big French teams, superstars in the Irish teams, and it’s very tough to win in Wales,” he adds. “It’s a tough season but it was refreshing for me to do something other than Super Rugby. The easy option would have been to finish over in Japan.” Saracens will be delighted Burger did not take it.