Saracens' Success Made Me Sick... Now It's My Turn

Neale Harvey talks to Dave Strettle about his quest to emuate his old Sarries mates.

- Neale Harvey

Dave Strettle admits winning the Champions Cup with Clermont would help exorcise the bitter pangs of jealousy he felt last May while watching his former Saracens colleagues prancing around Lyon with European rugby’s most coveted prize.

Strettle suffered Heineken Cup final misery with Saracens when they were beaten by Toulon in Cardiff in 2014, an occasion sandwiched between semi-final losses at the hands of Toulon and the ultra-ambitious Clermont side he now plays for.

European Cup revenge over Toulon would taste sweet, with Strettle telling The Rugby Paper: “I was lucky enough to play for Saracens for five years and you could see they were building towards that Champions Cup success, but an opportunity came for me to play at Clermont last year and it’s one I felt I had to take, so I missed out.

“I texted the Saracens boys after they won the Champions Cup in Lyon last May and admitted that I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t jealous of them winning it. But at the same time I was really chuffed for them and I’d love to follow suit.