Lozowski calls end of Saracens decade 'bewildering' as he returns with Sale on Sunday
Sale centre Alex Lozowski said the end of his decade-long stay at Saracens was "bewildering" as he prepares to return to face his former club at the Stonex Stadium on Sunday.
Lozowski, 33, left Saracens after being reduced to a fringe player despite a long association with the club; he made only two Prem appearances last season and his only game time since the end of February was a 10-minute Champions Cup cameo. He has won five England caps, the most recent of which came in November 2018, and earlier in his sporting life had a youth trial with Arsenal and played for Chelsea's academy before focusing on rugby.
Reflecting on the ending, Lozowski said: "It was a sad ending for everyone I suppose. They finished fifth, which is not where they wanted to be, and I wasn't part of it at all. No-one really got what they wanted. It was probably just a bit of a damp squib at the end of the season really, which was a shame. It was bewildering and peculiar to me." He added: "They have their decisions and their reasons and, even though you can disagree with them as strongly as you like, it doesn't really count for much."
His form in 2024-25 earned Lozowski call-ups to England's squad for both the autumn internationals and Six Nations, yet he was overlooked for Saracens' run-in in favour of a midfield combination of Olly Hartley and Nick Tomkins. Saracens recorded a streak of five successive victories that took the club to the brink of the play-offs before they lost away to Exeter in a semi-final shootout in the final round of the regular season and finished fifth.
Lozowski noted his career tally and missed opportunities, saying: "I've played 198 games, could have got a couple more in there and had a little run and tried to make it to the top four?' That's what I was thinking at the time, but it doesn't always work out the way you want." Apart from a season-long loan at Montpellier following the club's demotion to the Championship, he was part of Saracens' successful period and started the 2023 Prem final victory over Sale.
On the trip to the Stonex Stadium, Lozowski will start in Sale's midfield alongside fellow summer signing Joe Marchant. He highlighted familiar faces in the opposition party, noting Alex Sanderson's 17 years at Saracens and commenting on Brendan Venter's return: "I idolised Brendan to a degree. A lot of his traits, his values and philosophies I'm aligned with. I've taken from them over the years. Not withstanding Mark McCall's unbelievable contribution [who led Saracens for 15 years between Venter's stints], it's good to have him back in the Prem as a character. I'm sure we'll see his character come out on to the field."
Sale head to Saracens seeking to make amends for two heavy defeats last season, when they lost 65-14 away in October and 85-16 in the April reverse fixture, with Lozowski set to start in the midfield on Sunday.