BACK IN FULL SWING
England get huge lift as Itoje and Vunipola return for Sarries
Wasps v Saracens Tomorrow, 3pm
BILLY VUNIPOLA and Maro Itoje are back in action for Saracens at Wasps tomorrow in a massive boost for England boss Eddie Jones. No.8 Vunipola missed the autumn internationals and has not played since injuring his knee against Sale in September. And lock Itoje broke his jaw against Harlequins on December 3 and missed Sarries’ European double -header against Clermont. They attended England training in Brighton this week and got the green light for this weekend after a Saracens session on Wednesday. With Vunipola out the European champions went on a run of seven straight losses but have steadied the ship with wins against Leicester and Worcester. They are still second in the Premiership, and alive in the Champions Cup, but face Wasps and Euro clashes with Scarlets and Northampton that could define their season. Get through those and Vunipola, Itoje, Nick Isiekwe, Owen Farrell and possibly Alex Lozowski will be called up by Jones for the Six Nations and wing Liam Williams will be needed by Wales. That will test the strength in depth of the Londoners but Saracens have plenty more where they came from according to veteran South African flanker Schalk Burger.
Jackson Wray has put in a shift at No.8 with Vunipola away while kids such as Ben Earl and Joel Conlon will be expected to step up.
But Burger reckons the kids will be all right when the big guns are away on Test duty even though the Premiership carries on full bore.
Burger said: “We are all mates. We have lunch and breakfast together and every now and then share a few pints. We are a tight-knit group so when that situation happens and you have a changing of the guard, those guys will be comfortable.
“The biggest thing the club gets right is that these blokes will be comfortable playing with us – they train with us every day.”
Scrum-half Richard Wigglesworth starts for Sarries at the Ricoh and makes his 200th appearance for the club after confounding doctors. He injured his hip in the first game against Clermont, a 46-14 defeat on December 11, and was expected to be out for six or eight weeks.
But the 34-year-old made a shock recovery to be on the bench against Worcester last weekend and is handed the No.9 shirt.
Wasps are flying on the back of six straight Premiership wins but boss Dai Young has shuffled his pack by giving lock Joe Launchbury a day on the bench if he shrugs off a cold. Danny Cipriani leads a back line who are averaging four tries a game.
TV: Tomorrow, BT Sport, 3pm