“Before the London Irish game, I said to Phil, ‘Am I preparing a leaver’s speech for next Friday?’ He looked at me and said, ‘We have got a bit of stuff to sort out’. I didn’t hear anything Monday or Tuesday and Wednesday I was with my son, Friday was the leavers’ dinner and I still didn’t know what was happening.
“I got a call to come in and I had my wee son with me, thinking I am going to be told it was my last time here. I sat down with Phil and Smally [McCall] and they said, ‘Mate, we want to give you another year’. It was special.
“The game has given me so much over the last 15 or 16 years. I was accepting the fact this was my last year and wanted to go out on a high winning the Prem, but one year and the dream keeps going on.”
Maitland added two more tries in the semi-final defeat of Northampton Saints, bringing his tally for the Premiership season to nine, as Saracens set up a domestic decider against Sale Sharks. McCall acknowledged that the presence of Maitland would be important at Twickenham this weekend and is pleased to have tied down the experienced operator.
“There were a number of things going on,” McCall explained of his squad-building considerations. “From January on we have been communicating with Sean that if X happened it might be unlikely there would be a contract but if Y happened we want him to stay, and Y happened.
“It took a long time, longer than we would have liked, because we want to give players a bit of certainty, but we kept dialogue with Sean every week about the situation and we are delighted he is able to stay for another year.”