Sean Maitland reveals he was just hours away from writing Saracen’s pre-signing speech
ean Maitland revealed he was just two days away from his farewell speech when Saracens offered him a new contract to stay in north London.
Scotland winger Maitland feared his seventh year with the Saracens would be his last, he revealed standard sport on April 6 that he does not know his plans for next season.
The 34-year-old was worried about his future but was determined to stay with the Men In Black. And on Wednesday 26 April, just two days before the club’s annual farewell night – to toast the players leaving this summer – the Saracens coped well with the offer of a new one-year deal.
Maitland will go into the Gallagher Premiership final on Saturday in top form after scoring a brace in a 38-15 semi-final win over Northampton. The strong wing will also accept Sale, buoyed by renewed job security.
“Before the London-Irish game, I said to Phil Morrow, ‘Do I have a farewell speech ready for next Friday?’ and he looked at me and said, ‘We still have a few things to work out,'” said Maitland.
“Then it wasn’t until the next Wednesday, Monday and Tuesday I didn’t hear anything and on Wednesday I was with my son.
“Friday was grad dinner and I still didn’t know what was going on. I received a phone call and thought I would be told this would be my last time here.
“I sat down with Phil and Smally (Mark McCall) and they said, ‘Dude, we want to give you another year.’ It was special.
“The game has given me so much over the past 15 or 16 years. I accepted the fact that this was my last year and I wanted to come out on top and win the Premier League. But then it takes another year and the dream continues.”
Maitland narrowly missed out on being included in Scotland’s World Cup squad despite returning to Gregor Townsend’s Test line-up in the Six Nations.
This failure at the World Cup will increase Maitland’s availability for the Saracens next season and potentially increase the odds for the new deal in his favour.
“It was last-minute dot-com again, the last two deals were pretty similar,” Maitland said.
“As you know the market is probably not the best right now, especially for a 34-year-old winger. I’m just so lucky because I have a young family and my kids get to stay in the same school and house for another year.
He put that speech on hold for another year.
“To leave this club that I love would have been pretty stupid! I’m just grateful that I can be here for another year.”
Rugby director McCall praised Maitland’s continued influence on the Saracens line-up.
“From a purely playing point of view he plays an important role, but as a senior, experienced player, as a man who’s played in a lot of finals – we have that across our team,” McCall said.
“Sean had a lot to do in terms of a new deal. From January we had communicated with him that it happened in the case of And Y.
“It took a long time, it took longer than we would have liked. We want to reassure players, but we’ve been in touch with Sean every week about the situation. And we are happy that he can stay another year. So he postponed that speech for another year.”
https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/rugby/saracens-sean-maitland-contract-b1082869.html Sean Maitland reveals he was just hours away from writing Saracen’s pre-signing speech
