Friday 17 October 2014 13:30, UK
Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall believes it would be "an achievement in itself" to reach the knockout stages of the European Rugby Champions Cup.
McCall steered his team to the Heineken Cup final in May but they face little room for manoeuvre in a pool that also features French Top 14 leaders Clermont Auvergne, two-time European champions Munster and Sale Sharks.
Clermont are first up at Allianz Park on Saturday, and if the visitors required any extra motivation then it can be summoned from last season's 46-6 Twickenham humiliation when Saracens scored six tries against them to book a final date with Toulon.
"This is a new season - last season is almost irrelevant," said McCall, who has named England fly-half Owen Farrell on the bench following a spell out through injury.
"This competition is meant to be an elite competition, and it certainly has the feel of that this season.
"They had beaten us in the quarter-finals the year before, so it's hard to pin your hopes on what you did to a team six or seven months ago. It is a very new challenge.
"This competition is meant to be an elite competition, and it certainly has the feel of that this season.
"Ourselves, Clermont and Munster were in the semi-finals of the competition last year and the year before, so we know it's going to be incredibly difficult to get through the group.
"History suggests that you've got to fight for every point. I don't think anyone will win six games in our pool - maybe not even five games - so there is something to fight for in every game.
"There have been tough groups in the past, and we've been part of tough groups ourselves, but last year we got a more favourable group and there was an expectation that we would get into the quarter-finals.
“This year, it would be an achievement in itself to get through the pool."
