Alex Corbisiero insists the heartbreaking personal sacrifice to miss a New Zealand tour to play the All Blacks would certainly be eased a little by an English Premiership winners’ medal on Saturday at Twickenham.
Hoping to play at next year’s World Cup in England, the British and Irish Lions forward decided to spend the European summer at home getting his body in prime condition.
It means Northampton’s 114kg loosehead prop will be a “frustrated TV fan” when Stuart Lancaster’s patched-up England squad go head to head with the world champion All Blacks during next month’s three-Test series.
Corbisiero aims to put his hefty bulk to good use when two of English club rugby’s most powerful and formidable packs collide.
The 25-year-old, who produced a man-of-the-match performance in the Lions’ series-winning Test against the Wallabies a year ago, has endured a six-month rehabilitation from a career-threatening knee injury to join Saints’ end-of-season bid for double success.
Last week, Northampton beat English Premiership rivals Bath to win the European Challenge Cup final in Cardiff while, 24 hours later in the Welsh capital, Saracens lost the European Cup final to a Toulon side captained by Jonny Wilkinson in the England great’s final match in Britain before retirement.
“I’m sure they will be desperate to bounce back from losing out in Cardiff to Toulon but we have our own special reasons not to mess this one up,” said Corbisiero, with Northampton having lost in last season’s Premiership final to Leicester – the team they beat in this term’s semi-finals.
“Losing to Leicester last time was heartbreaking … it would be absolutely massive for this club to get over the line and be English champions. It would be special.
“We have one trophy in the bag but, naturally, the Premiership is such a huge prize for all the clubs.”
Saracens’ director of rugby Mark McCall is convinced his team can bounce back from their European Cup final loss and emulate their 2011 Premiership triumph in captain and ex-England skipper Steve Borthwick’s final match before retirement.
Saracens, who topped the regular-season table, lost in last term’s semi-finals to Northampton and McCall said: “We have a fantastic opportunity to be English champions for a second time in three years, and the players don’t need me to remind them how big a match this is as well.”