Brad Barritt: Salary-cap scandal will never tarnish my Saracens memories
Saracens captain Brad Barritt has rejected the notion that his achievements might have been diminished as a result of the club’s salary-cap breaches by saying that, "at no point did I ever feel those memories are tarnished".
Barritt was one of the founding members of the side put together a dozen years ago that went on to win five Premiership titles and three European Cups before their world came crashing down as they were fined and relegated from the Premiership. The 33 year-old has been granted a three-month extension to his contract to cover a mid-August re-start. As he approaches retirement, the former England centre has only positive feelings about the club.
“You look back over the whole period and you have to appreciate the 11-and-a-half years of memories,” said Barritt. “Every rugby player knows what they have put in to make something successful, regardless of anything that other people say. Anyone who has been part of those teams know what sacrifice and hard work went into achieving anything, especially from where Saracens was as a club in 2008. I will always hold those special, special memories very close to my heart. You can’t stop what people think. You can only look back and look at yourself in the mirror. I know what I personally put in to the journey and how it made me feel. At no point did I ever feel that those memories are tarnished.”
Barritt states that he would not consider playing for any other Premiership club but does not rule out a contract in his native South Africa and with it the possibility of lining up against several Saracens teammates on the British and Irish Lions tour next summer. He has yet to decide, though, whether to remain in the UK where he has a flourishing coffee business, or pursue other options.
There is little doubt that Barritt will rank as one of the best pound-for-pound overseas signings in the Premiership; durable, intelligent, resolute and charismatic in an understated way, all the more so given the injuries he has endured.
“I’ve had a lacerated eyeball, four metal plates in my cheek and eye socket, and then stitches - I wouldn’t be able to give you a number,” said Barritt, as he put his memory to the test to see if he could recall all those painful set-backs. “I had quite a bad foot injury in 2013 which involved having a tightrope put in your feet. I’ve had loads of ante-related injuries, an MCL tear in my knee, loads of soft-tissue muscle injuries, both calf and hamstring, three or four broken fingers, two finger operations, a shoulder repair and two nose rhinoplasties. Functionally I’m actually fine. It’s more the appearance. My wife looks at my wedding photo every day and cries.”
Barritt is focussing his energies on helping Saracens round off a troubled season as best they can, primarily in Europe where the defending champions face a daunting trip to Dublin to take on Leinster in the quarter-final.
“We are all hugely motivated to finish off on the right foot,” said Barritt, who holds no fears for the club’s future even though they will spend next season in the Championship and have lost players as well as kudos. “It is wiping the slate clean. But there is an incredible hotbed of talent at the club. We’d have loved to have been able to have a last dance with everyone that got us there (to the quarter-final) but we are in exceptional times. We can still finish in a manner we’d be proud of.”
