06 October 2020

Saracens welcome former club sponsor Allianz as title sponsor of Premier 15s

Defending Premier 15s champions Saracens have welcomed the announcement that their former club sponsor Allianz have signed up as title sponsor for the top flight women’s league.

Insurance company Allianz sponsored Saracens from 2012 until earlier this year when the men’s side were found to have broken the salary cap.

Sarries and England star Poppy Cleall is hoping the new league sponsor will utilise the players as she feels they are an ‘untapped resource’.

She said: "Allianz has been on board with Sarries for quite a time now and they're incredible support to Sarries as a whole team and a squad, men and women. To hear it came on board to be our Premier 15s title sponsor is fantastic and one that I was happy to see.

"Hopefully now it helps us to push forward, help promote us [as a] brand and get on side with us as well because there is so much that we can do as role models. Just to use us as much as possible because I feel like we're kind of an untapped resource.

“We've got incredible role models and women in the sport and I don't think we're used as much as we can be. Hopefully they'll get on board with that.”

While head coach Alex Austerberry added Allianz can build the relationship between the community and the league as they had done for the London club.

He said: “It’s about visibility and a mutually beneficial relationship. We have been lucky that Allianz have spent a lot of time partnering with the club, big push on the community element on Saracens Support Foundation so hopefully that transfers into this relationship.

"It's just that you want someone who celebrates it [the league], who is properly engaged and promotes it and gives us an access to audiences and to people we've not had before. They are a huge brand I think they've partnered with Juventus as well this season and athletics and everything they have done. They've got a rich history in engaging in sport pushing forward and that's what we need now.

"The time is right for us to really explode and move into the front and centre of the sporting world, not just the rugby world. I'm hoping their investment, their support and their ability to make us commercially more viable will be huge.

“But I think that for me the tap in around the community stuff, I know they have been very good at, will be key for us and shows it’s a legacy of people playing rugby, people celebrating their rugby and women's rugby as well. I'm excited so hopefully, I'm sure they will back up everything they say they are going to do.”

The Premier 15s gets back underway this weekend and Sarries’ first match of the 2020/21 season will be against Worcester Warriors on Saturday.

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