MEET THE GANG

The silly season is almost over and we will finally have som rugby to write about (any volunteers to cover Bedford or London Scottish?) But in the meantime, my ongoing battle to keep the site alive looks at the new guys who will be joining us for the 2016/17 season. We have already "met" Schalk Burger so here is a short introduction to the rest of the new faces

1.       Alex Lozowski

Alex is 24 and a graduate of Watford Grammar before going to Leeds to study Economics where he joined Leeds Carnegie. He made 25 appearances for them both at Fly Half and Full Back before moving to Wasps in 2014. He understudies Andy Goode, making frequent appearances from the bench (as you would with dear old Andy) and being nominated as LV Breakthrough player of the year. The following season his chances were limited with both Jimmy Gopperth and Ruaridh Jackson ahead of him in the pecking order. Alex was also a talented footballer and trained with Chelsea academy

2.       Savenaca Rawaca

Savenaca, aged almost 24, was born and raised in Fiji where he started out playing sevens. In 2014 he was selected by coach Ben Ryan to become a full-time member of the Fiji squad and won a fabulous gold medal in Rio as the Fiji team demolished all before them (although a hand injury prevented him from playing in the final). He is nicknamed “Pitbull” because of his physicality & aggression of the rugby field. Inexperienced in the 15-a-side game he is committed to honing his undoubted skills. He can play wing or centre.

3.       Mark Flanagan

27 year old Mark joins from partner club Bedford Blues. He had an impressive season at Lock for the Blues in last year’s championship. Born in Westmeath, he has played for Ireland at U18, U19 and U20 having learnt his trade both at Leinster and French club Mont-de-Marsan. Despite that he is also England qualified. His cousin is Irish international Dean Toner. 

4.       Sean Maitland

Sean was born in Tokoroa in New Zealand. His mother is of Samoan/Maori descent but he qualified for Scotland through his paternal grandparents who emigrated to New Zealand from Glasgow in the 60’s. He has some famous rugby relatives with both Quade Cooper  and “smoking” Joe Stanley being cousins. He began his career with Crusaders before moving to Glasgow in 2012. Sean represented New Zealand in the under-20 team which won the IRB Junior World Cup in 2008 and also played for the Maori All Blacks 3 times before he was selected for Scotland in 2013. He was invited to play for the British Lions in 2013 for the Australian tour but sadly he never met cousin Quade on the rugby field. He represented Scotland at the 2015 World Cup including the controversial quarter final match against Australia (but once again he didn’t meet cousin Quade who was left on the bench). Sean moved to London Irish in 2015 prior to joining Sarries for this season. Sean can play on the wing or at full-back. He may choose to forget his appearance as a finalist in the New Zealand bachelor of the year competition in 2009!

5.       Vincent Koch

Vincent is 26 and hales from Empangeni in South Africa. He is a tight head prop who first joined the Blue Bulls in 2012 going on to represent the Pumas and the Stormers before joining Sarries. He has twice been capped by the Springboks against New Zealand and Argentina in 2015. He is no stranger to Allianz having played there in 2014 for Western Province. Unfortunately it appears Vincent will not be joining Sarries until later in the season as he is still contracted to the Puma’s until October.