Gloucester have extended head coach Johan Ackermann's contract just days after their Premiership semi-final defeat by Saracens.

Ackermann has just completed his second season at Kingsholm, guiding the Cherry and Whites to third place in the table.

And they have moved quickly to tie the 48-year-old down on a "long-term basis" despite losing in the play-offs.

"We've made progress, but the job is far from complete," said the former South Africa lock.

Ackermann is now contracted to the club for the next three seasons.

"We are only a certain way along the journey and I'm confident that, if we all pull together, work hard and remain true to our beliefs, we can do great things for the club, its supporters and the city of Gloucester."

Ackermann, who spent a brief period at Northampton Saints during his playing career, previously coached the Lions Super Rugby side for four seasons.

He joined Gloucester in 2017 and led them to the European Challenge Cup final in his first season.

The exact length of his new deal with the club has not been disclosed.

Owen Farrell arrived at Saracens as a 14-year-old chip off the old rugby block. He had followed his father Andy - a superstar cross-code recruit - to a club starved of silverware.

It was the 2005-06 season and Sarries, big names and all, finished third from bottom in the Premiership.

Now, 14 years later, England co-captain Farrell is the embodiment of how Saracens have built unparalleled success on homegrown talent over the past decade.

The club that started May by collecting a third European Champions Cup trophy are looking to win their fifth Premiership title in nine years when they face Exeter at Twickenham on Saturday.

Farrell, Jamie George, Jackson Wray and George Kruis, all Saracens academy players in 2008, have played a part in each of those seven triumphs.

"It is a good group that has constantly egged each other on to get better," Farrell, 27, told BBC Sport.

"No one year is ever the same here and that is the brilliant thing about it; our culture is forever evolving because we are constantly growing."

'Bonkers' success

Will Fraser was among that glory-harvesting 'class of 08' until injury forced him into retirement in 2017 aged just 27. He says the quartet have achieved "remarkable" things together before any of them have turned 30.

"Looking back, it's absolutely bonkers," Fraser told BBC Sport. "But at the same time, it's completely unsurprising.

"It is bonkers because of where they have come from and unsurprising because all of those guys are absolutely everything good about the club.

"Faz [Farrell] - with his mentality, his drive, his loyalty - you will never meet a more honest, humble, hard working or disciplined man in your life. They are literally the four club values.

"He is everything that is 'the Saracens way' in the same way that Jamie George, George Kruis and Jackson Wray also are."

These are just four players defined by those three words - 'the Saracens way' - by which the club lives.

A total of 43 'homegrown' players have featured for Saracens in the Premiership since 2008.

Some were cast in a Saracens mould as a teenager, the way north London's own Maro Itoje was. Some were polished to a black and red sheen as young professionals such as Mako Vunipola who arrived from Bristol as an under-20 England international in 2011.

While not all established themselves as regulars, 11 have gone on to play for England and four - including Farrell, Kruis and George - have earned British and Irish Lions caps in that time.

From 'absolute rubbish' to 'phenomenal'

They are brought up through 'the Saracens way', which covers things such as 'culture' and 'care' to 'principles' and 'pillars' and has everything to do with one of the greatest transformations seen in English rugby union.

"Take away the rugby and essentially 'the Saracens way' is a programme which looks at how we have gone from being one of the lowest performing organisations in our industry to being one of the top performing in our industry, by focusing on people," added Fraser.

"Ten years ago, when we were quite frankly an absolute rubbish rugby club, we could afford to focus almost exclusively on the cultural aspect, and now 10 years on we are a phenomenal rugby club who are expected, externally and internally, to be fighting for silverware every year."

But to make it happen required upheaval. At Saracens, they know it as 'the revolution'.

For the youngsters of 2008 who have gone on to thrive, they first had to survive. More than a dozen players were culled before the 2009-10 season - the highest profile of which was former New Zealand international Chris Jack.

At the time it was dressed up as dealing with "economic realities" of the time, but for head coach Brendan Venter it was a necessary purge to usher in a new age.

'Black Monday'

Fraser remained, receiving the good news while playing on loan in South Africa, while Farrell also lived through it, although he only recalls being at school that particular day.

Just months later Alex Goode, an academy graduate and recently named European player of the season, was signed to a long-term contract - a deal likened to driving a "giant stake in the ground" to underpin the club's future.

Former Saracens centre Adam Powell, who rose through club ranks having first joined as a 13-year-old, now works as academy coach and says the all-conquering side of today can be traced back to the "Black Monday" in February 2009 of that squad cull.

"A strong culture breeds success," said Powell.

"We didn't have an identity back then, no. We weren't the worst example in the world, we got to Premiership and European semi-finals, but blew hot and cold.

"It was a weird experience but when you are young and don't have anything to worry about it's not actually that bad.

"We weren't doing too well so I was going to buy into whatever was coming next. For me personally it was good and for the club, as it has shown over the past 10 years, it was a big day for us.

"We are now reaping the benefits of an a very ingrained culture.

"The reason we are now consistent in terms of developing players and putting together performances is because we know fundamentally what we are about.

"The guys that are coaching in the academy, be it the 14s or 18s or whoever, they all have an idea of what a Saracens player should be like."

An "academy first" approach to recruitment means chances are given by Sarries director of rugby Mark McCall, but this is not a one-stop-shop player factory, as star names are still lured to London.

Wales winger Liam Williams is "a world-class" example, with England and British and Irish Lions back Elliot Daly moving to the capital from Wasps next season.

"It is down to Mark McCall at the top; he has a belief in bringing these lads through and wants to give them opportunities and the benefit of doubt," said Powell.

"Without him or someone at the top with that mentality, it can grind to a halt."

The future is now

The rise of some has been more seamless than others.

Nick Tompkins, a junior England international schooled by Sarries from a young age, marked his 100th first-team appearance for the club with a semi-final hat-trick against Gloucester on Saturday after replacing injured captain Brad Barritt.

A week earlier, scrum-half Tom Whiteley, a player released by Harlequins for being too small, contributed 19 points in a narrow 31-29 defeat for a largely second-string Saracens team against Worcester in their final regular league fixture.

This season, 22-year-old Whiteley has done it all, from filling in as waterboy when they won the pre-season Sevens tournament to making his first Premiership start and lifting the Premiership Shield.

"I knew coming to Saracens was my last chance, I had universities lined up and was thinking of playing Sunday league football. That was five years ago," Whiteley said.

"Before I got here, I never knew what Sarries were about.

"It is unbelievably welcoming. The academy is not treated as being separate - it is a family within a family.

"I've learned more out there on the training pitch than I have on any rugby field purely because I've been training with the best team in Europe for five years."

In a season in which 27 'homegrown' players have featured for Saracens' first team as they have gone the distance both domestically and in Europe, the club's trust in those that have passed through the academy is clear.

"We are all part of this," said Farrell.

"The only way you play well at the weekend is if you prepare well, and preparing well can be a lot down to the people who are not playing.

"All the lads know they are a big part of whether we win or not at the weekend. It makes us all feel as one rather than two separate teams - the academy are not just about the future, they are about the now."

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Just days before the running of American Flat Track’s first Mile race of the year, a new entry to the AFT Twins presented by Vance & Hines class is making waves in the professional flat track community.

Roger Lee Hayden – a former MotoAmerica road racer and brother to fellow pros Nicky and Tommy Hayden – will race the No. 95 Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07 DT as a substitute for JD Beach during Saturday’s Indian Motorcycle of Lexington Red Mile in Lexington, Ky.

Beach, who is missing this round to race the fourth event of the MotoAmerica series at Road America, will return to AFT for the Lima Half-Mile on June 29.

“I’m so excited to have a rider of Roger Hayden’s caliber race for us this weekend,” said team owner Tim Estenson said. “I got to know Roger and the rest of the Hayden family in Austin during the MotoGP weekend when they retired Nicky’s number, and they are great people. I look forward to seeing him make his return to dirt track racing aboard our MT-07 DT in his home state of Kentucky.”

For Red Mile, Hayden – a fellow Kentucky native and longtime friend of Beach – has opted to come out of retirement and return to his flat track roots in his hometown round of AFT.

With more than 20 years of professional racing experience to his credit, Hayden announced his retirement from racing in early 2018 while competing in the MotoAmerica series aboard the No. 95 Yoshimura Suzuki.

Although entered under the No. 195, AFT officials have permitted the No. 95 number plates to remain on the motorcycle as a symbol of solidarity between the machine’s two pilots.

“I’m really excited because it’s going to be a special weekend for the family,” said Hayden. “My parents are Grand Marshals, and to have Tommy [Hayden] as my team manager is definitely really cool. I feel like it’s going to be a great weekend for the family, getting back to dirt track racing and having a dollar from each ticket sale going to Nicky’s Memorial Foundation. I’ve never raced a national in Kentucky, so it will be awesome to see all the Kentucky fans there – they’ll have a Kentucky boy to root for.”

“AFT is delighted to welcome Roger to compete, particularly on such an auspicious weekend,” added Michael Lock, CEO of American Flat Track. “The Red Mile is hosting our first Mile of the season and this news ratchets up the anticipation to the next level.”

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – American Flat Track will set the field loose on the first Mile of the year with this weekend’s Indian Motorcycle of Lexington Red Mile on June 1 in Lexington, Ky.

The Red Mile has existed primarily as a horse racing facility for its near century-and-a-half existence, but it’s adapted well to the hundred-fold increase in horsepower it has been subjected to since AFT first visited in 2017.

AFT Twins Champion Jared Mees is the only AFT Twins presented by Vance & Hines rider to have won a Main Event at the Red Mile. In fact, the first running of the Red Mile in 2017 coincides with Mees’s emergence as one of the strongest Mile competitors in the sport.

Prior to the 2017 stop in Lexington, Mees had a grand total of three Mile victories to his name. He’s won seven of 11 since that first Red Mile triumph, an impressive run that’s launched him inside the top 10 in career AFT Mile wins.

Mees still has a long way to go to catch Bryan Smith, however.

Smith’s 25 Mile victories have him tied for third all-time with the legendary Bubba Shobert. Smith sat out the So-Cal Half-Mile in order to get his bike fully dialed-in ahead of this year’s Miles, and he and his crew have only had more time to prepare following the weather-related postponements of both the Sacramento Mile and Springfield Mile I.

AFT Twins title leader Briar Bauman and the resurgent Sammy Halbert are just two of a deep pack of potential contenders, with both the pace and motivation to prevent this weekend’s Main Event from becoming another in a long list of Mees-Smith Mile showdowns that have featured so prominently in American Flat Track’s modern history.

Meanwhile, Jesse Janisch storms into the Red Mile leading the Roof Systems AFT Singles presented by Russ Brown Motorcycle Attorneys championship fight based largely on the strength of his three early-season TT wins.

Despite his undeniable TT success, it would be incorrect to write Janisch off as just a one-trick pony. He scored a pair of top-five finishes on Miles in 2018, including a fourth-place run at the Red Mile.

There’s also little denying that Shayna Texter stands as a strong favorite entering this weekend. The tactical Texter is at her best when the speed increases to the maximum and the distance separating riders decreases to the minimum, as evidenced by her seven career Mile wins.

Also on the undercard, Cory Texter will put his perfect 2019 AFT Production Twins record on the line as the class resumes for the third of its 11 rounds.

DARLINGTON, S.C. – The Ryan Blaney Foundation has been named the recipient of the First Quarter NMPA Pocono Spirit Award.

Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford, commissioned Gateway Bronco in Hamel, Ill., to build a one-of-a-kind 1974 Ford Bronco that will be sold at Barrett-Jackson’s 2020 Scottsdale Auction to support the Alzheimer’s Association.

“June is Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month, and I’ll be joining the Alzheimer’s Association in honoring my grandfather, Lou Blaney, who I lost to the disease,” said Blaney in a recent release. “We want to encourage NASCAR fans to raise awareness for the disease by sharing their stories and who they are honoring during the month on social media using the hashtag #ENDALZ and tagging the Alzheimer’s Association.”

Other nominees receiving votes for the first quarter award included Chase Elliott’s DESI9N TO DRIVE Auction, where drivers wore special shoes in Cup series competition at Atlanta Motor Speedway designed by patients of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

The Menard Family Foundation, which seeks to enhance lives through medicine and medical research, education, music and the arts and also directs service to the poor and underserved, additionally received votes towards the first quarter award as well.

The NMPA Pocono Spirit Award is designed to recognize character and achievement in the face of adversity, sportsmanship and contributions to motorsports.

The NMPA membership selects quarterly recipients, as well as an overall winner each year. The award is sponsored by Pocono (Pa.) Raceway and has been presented annually since 1992.

CONCORD, N.C. — Gio Scelzi gave himself a stellar graduation gift during the recent United Rentals Patriot Nationals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.

Scelzi picked up his second World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series victory on the opening night of the two-day show with a thrilling pass of NASCAR star Kyle Larson.

The 17-year-old, who recently finished his final semester of high school, has turned his focus to life on the road and racing sprint cars under the tutelage of Indy Race Parts owner Bernie Stuebgen.

That focus showed on the race track in Scelzi’s veteran move on to pass Larson, as well as when he was asked if being done with his schooling was a benefit to his racing dreams and endeavors.

“It’s been a long road, but I’m definitely excited to close the school chapter of my life and turn my attention to the race track full time,” Scelzi told SPEED SPORT. “It’s a big weight lifted off my shoulders and I think allows us to reset a little bit. Bernie’s team is pretty unique with just him and I working on the cars together. It takes a lot of time during the week, but we have a really fast program because of it.

“I love doing this; racing is what I’ve wanted to put my focus toward for a long time and I’m looking forward to being able to do that through the summer and fall.”

When one considers that at just 17, Scelzi was finishing school, racing on most weekends and working for Stuebgen in the Indy Race Parts shop as much as he was able to, it’s understandable to think that the California teenager might have struggled at times to organize his schedule.

He’s grateful that it’s a struggle which has gotten a bit easier since his high school graduation, however.

“It’s been tough to balance. There’s been a lot of late nights in the shop and early mornings, too,” Scelzi noted. “To just focus on racing now makes that extra time even more worthwhile. I put my computer down after I got done with my last semester a few weeks ago and haven’t touched it since then.

“It’s been nice just to focus on racing and race cars and have some fun with it all.”

Scelzi scored his first World of Outlaws victory last fall during the opening night of National Open weekend at Williams Grove Speedway, instantly inking his name among legends of the sport as an Outlaw winner at the stark young age of 16.

Since then, he’s continued to impress and excel on the way to his second Outlaw victory at Charlotte, a process that has been aided by Stuebgen’s guidance and wrench-turning as Scelzi’s crew chief.

“Bernie and I spend almost every day together, and when we don’t, we’re either driving down the road or something like that preparing for the next race,” said Scelzi. “We spend a lot of time together and get along really well, and I think that’s a lot of it, is just chemistry between two people and not arguing or fighting. Me being a young driver, I’m always hard enough on myself, so whether we win or run last … he doesn’t really say a whole lot because he knows we’re capable of great things.

“That relationship makes it a lot easier on me to be focused and stay confident.”

As his confidence has risen, so has Scelzi’s performance behind the wheel. His pass of Larson to win at Charlotte made the NASCAR star appear as if he was standing still in turn three, a testament to a newfound driving fire on Scelzi’s part.

“I think just being more aggressive, for me, has been the biggest way I’ve grown,” said Scelzi. “These guys, if you make a mistake, you end up being passed by two, three or even four cars in one corner. That’s tough to make back up, so you have to get all you can get all the time. Me capitalizing on those mistakes from others and being aggressive like the rest of the field is has made me a better driver.

“I think the smarts were always there, but the experience wasn’t and still isn’t, in some cases,” he added. “I lack in a lot of ways, having never seen a lot of race tracks before and having to learn as I go, so I think I’ve grown in that way, as well as a person with living away from home, working with Bernie and growing up a lot more than I would have before I got started on this journey.”

Scelzi knows he still has a lot of growing to do, but feels that he’s at a point where he’s ready to begin shaping his own path forward.

“I hope this is the part of the process where I start to truly grab hold of the dream,” Scelzi said. “With two Outlaw wins now, I feel more solidified with these guys and feel like everyone knows now that (Williams Grove) wasn’t just a fluke deal. It’s a big accomplishment for me and for my confidence.

“It’s tough out here, but hopefully this dream is starting to actually become a reality,” he added. “My Charlotte win was a thinking man’s game, I feel like, and one of the best nights I’ve driven in my life.”

Scelzi has no plans of continuing that dream without Stuebgen in his corner.

“As long as the truck’s got diesel in it and there’s methanol for the car, we plan to keep racing together.”

BOSTON - The St. Louis Blues will sit winger Robert Thomas for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final due to an injury they said is unrelated to the massive hit he took from Boston Bruins defenseman Torey Krug in Monday's series opener.

Forward Robby Fabbri, who has one goal in eight playoff games this postseason, is expected to draw in for the Blues.

Thomas has frequently missed morning skates with the Blues in the last few weeks, but has played in every playoff game for them. His line with Tyler Bozak and Pat Maroon was effective against the Dallas Stars in Round 2, where Thomas had a goal and three assists in seven games. But he had just one assist in his last seven games, and was a minus-2 in the Blues' 4-2 loss to Boston in Game 1.

"Obviously it's a change for sure, but these guys are veteran players and have been around for a long time," said coach Craig Berube. "They'll be fine. It'll just be a different look for them."

Forward Jaden Schwartz said that the Blues have the depth to handle injury losses, and was excited to see what Fabbi can do after coming off multiple knee surgeries that limited him to 32 games.

"We've had guys all year (be hurt), we've got guys sitting out who have played a lot of big games. This time of year, there's always injuries and we've been pretty healthy for the most part. But Fabs is a guy who's ready to go and he's played in big games before. So we'll miss Thomas, but other guys are ready to go," he said. "Guys who sit out are hungry to get in and you're excited. They want to take advantage of it. Any time you get fresh legs in they're obviously pumped up. We can use guys like that."

Game 2 between the Blues and Bruins is set for 8 p.m. on Wednesday night. Defenseman Vince Dunn is also out against for St. Louis, still recovering from a puck to the face in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final against San Jose.