Friday 12 May 2017 11:39, UK
Jamie George said a hostile crowd won't bother Saracens when they take on Clermont in Saturday's Champions Cup final, live on Sky Sports 3 from 4pm.
Only three teams have ever managed to retain European rugby's top prize. Leicester Tigers did it first, coming out on top in 2001 and 2002, before Leinster joined them with back-to-back successes in 2011 and 2012, and an all-conquering Toulon outfit bagged a hat-trick of trophies between 2013 and 2015.
Saracens will take to the Murrayfield turf on Saturday evening looking to create their own dynasty, attempting to add consecutive European titles to their expanding list of conquests.
The north London side had a momentous season last campaign, not only winning the Aviva Premiership, but also becoming the first side to go unbeaten in the top flight of Europe - in the process toppling a star-studded Racing 92 outfit in the final.
One player who witnessed their rise from big-spending mid-table dwellers to one of the northern hemisphere's most consistent performers is Jamie George, and for the hooker a second taste of European glory would be just as sweet as the first.
"It would be right up there," George told Sky Sports. "As a kid growing up watching European rugby and European finals, it is everything you have always dreamed of.
"I think for us to have won it last year, the importance of us winning again would really show the strength of the group and be really special."
While success may have come on the pitch for Mark McCall's men, popularity off it has not followed. Disliked by some outside the club, it only seems to add fuel to the fire for the 'wolfpack', who silenced a 50,000 strong Munster contingent at the Aviva Stadium to book their place in this year's final, taking just over 1,200 fans of their own.
The important thing is us generating energy from within the group and not looking for outside things like crowd noise to motivate us.
The majority of this Saturday's crowd is expected to get behind Clermont, but George believes that the well-documented ethos of his group helps them to thrive in those situations.
"We just like playing in the big occasions. We don't pick and choose when we turn up, whether it is in these big games or on a Monday night in the A league; whatever it might be we are ready for it. I think we have played in hostile environments before.
"If you look at the semi-final against Munster, full of their fans in a 50,000 capacity Aviva Stadium, it probably doesn't get more hostile than that. It is what it is and the important thing is us generating energy from within the group and not looking for outside things like crowd noise to motivate us."
Club success has seen the hooker - alongside team-mates Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje, George Kruis and the Vunipola brothers - named in Warren Gatland's British and Irish Lions squad to take on New Zealand, and George believes that games like this weekend's will only help with the challenges that lie ahead.
"It is brilliant to have so many guys involved and so many that you know. I think you take a lot from games like this, you remember them and you get a huge amount of experience.
"Going into the tour to New Zealand, obviously it is big game after big game after big game, it is going to be important for us to have that experience and draw on it during those big games."
For George, the road from highly-rated youngster to British and Irish Lions tourist has not always been a smooth one.
The hooker had to bide his time behind former Springbok duo John Smit and Schalk Brits while others were handed their chances around him, but he believes it was this time on the sidelines that has played a huge role in his progression since.
"Early on in my career I didn't really have to fight for too much" said George. "I was always selected in teams and I got a contract at Saracens pretty quickly and made my way into the first team, and that was all off the back off a little bit of hard work but more off the back of being in the right place at the right time.
"I never had to really fight for too much but I went across a period when I wasn't playing too much and that changed my attitude completely.
"I really learnt how important it was to be competitive and that time allowed me to develop my game hugely. I wouldn't be the player I am today without that time."
