Saracens can move into fourth place on Saturday if they beat Harlequins, turning Mark McCall’s final home match in charge into a game with immediate playoff consequences. If they do, the race for the Premiership top four stays alive until the closing weekend; if they do not, Exeter’s trip to Leicester on Sunday could tighten the picture further.

That is why the fixture is drawing attention now. Saracens are 20-point favourites to win, while Leicester are 11-point favourites against Exeter, and bookmakers rate the chance of both underdogs winning as one in 50. In other words, a result at Allianz Stadium this weekend could decide whether the last playoff place is settled early or whether Saracens and Exeter are sent into a final-weekend showdown at Sandy Park.

For McCall, the match carries a personal weight that has been built over years rather than days. He is in his 15th year as Saracens’ director of rugby and said the club has been “a huge part” of his life for the last 17 years, adding that the final home game will be significant. He has won six English titles and three European titles at the club, milestones that began after he joined as a first-team coach in 2009 and took over when Brendan Venter stepped away to become technical director. Venter is due to return to take control of the first team next season.

McCall’s farewell, though, is not the point he wants to dwell on. Saracens made three changes from the side that beat Gloucester last time out, and he said that until the final whistle his attention remains on the result and what is at stake. That is the part of the story that matters most to Saracens, who are trying to get back into the top four with one round left and do not need sentiment to tell them what Saturday could mean.

Under McCall, Saracens have been the most successful English club of the past 20 years, but the immediate question is more basic than legacy. Beat Harlequins and they go ahead of Exeter into fourth; lose, and their place in the playoff race may depend on how Leicester handle Exeter the next day. Either way, the season’s last decisive turn could come quickly, and McCall’s final home game may end up remembered less for the farewell than for where it leaves Saracens on the table.