Andy Christie, Nick Tompkins reveal 'soul searching' at Saracens in battle to end poor run of results

Andy Christie hopes Saracens have turned a corner after a period of “soul searching”, while Nick Tompkins believes the Gallagher Premiership champions have learned to stop “trying to fix everything”.

Sarries earned a 40-22 win over Exeter Chiefs at the StoneX Stadium on Saturday night to ensure they go into the two-month break for the Six Nations inside the top four.

It was a much-needed victory after a tricky period for Mark McCall’s side, who had lost five of their last eight games before the visit of The Chiefs.

Sarries’ bid to rediscover consistency was not helped by rampant speculation over the future of their captain Owen Farrell, which ended this week with the announcement that he will join Racing 92 at the end of the season.

Scotland international Christie was named player of the match against Exeter and explained how he and his team-mates have tried to turn their fortunes around.

“We’ve not had the results we wanted in the last few weeks, and we’ve had a bit of soul searching,” Christie said on TNT Sports.

“We had a few meetings discussing the team we want to be, and I think that was a step in the right direction.

“We were talking mostly about our togetherness on and off the pitch. That’s something that in the past we’ve prided ourselves on and we really want to get back to.”

Christie also explained a surprising secret to their success on Saturday night - the DJ skills of No. 8 Billy Vunipola.

“We did [have fun], it was probably helped by Billy Vunipola on the tunes in the dressing room,” Christie said.

“We all came out with a smile on our face. We know it’s going to be a little while before we’re all back together again, so we wanted to enjoy today.

“It was a bit of a break from the techno and a bit more pop, some Jessie J and Katy Perry, stuff like that. We enjoyed it.”

Wales centre Nick Tompkins said Saracens “needed” their “massive” win over a Chiefs side who inflicted a humbling 65-10 defeat on them on the opening day of the season.

He also revealed that a change of mentality has helped create a better atmosphere in the squad of late.

“They stopped trying to fix everything and just got on with it. They found that because they’re just getting on with it, they’re not getting hung up on the little things,” Tompkins said of his team-mates.

“When you’re not in a great place and your confidence is low, you’re trying to fix everything, and it can really drag you down.”

He added: “There’s a lot of emotion from all of them, with everything that’s going on off the field. We just want to get back to enjoying ourselves and being a bit closer as a group.

“It’s not one thing, it’s an accumulation of so much noise from the outside, and boys coming to the end, older lads, maybe a changing of the guard and other things. When that happens, your confidence can easily take a hit.

“As many games as these boys have won, you still can be quite fragile, those things can happen. It’s been nice to turn a corner, be a bit honest with ourselves.

“Hopefully things off the field get sorted out and there’s a bit more clarity. We’re pretty tight as a group after this.”

The Premiership will now take a two-month hiatus while the Six Nations plays out, returning on the weekend of March 23 when Saracens host Harlequins at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Before then, Gloucester host Sale Sharks live on TNT Sports on Sunday in the final game of the round.

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