Farrell fit for England duty after Saracens scare
Owen Farrell will be fit for the England training squad that will be announced on Thursday despite missing Saracens’ victory over Northampton Saints.
Farrell was ruled out of his side’s bonus-point victory on Saturday, which maintained Saracens’ unbeaten start to their Premiership campaign, after picking up an abdominal strain last week.
Mark Mccall, the Saracens director of rugby, said that the strain was a minor one and he expects Farrell, who watched the match from the coaching box alongside Mccall, to return to the starting XV to face Gloucester at home on Sunday.
“Owen’s a really bright rugby guy,” said Mccall. “To have his opinion is valuable. He could easily have played. There was just an outside chance that if he played, then he may have made a very small injury a little bit worse. It’s nothing really. He’ll be back next week.”
With Billy Vunipola making his first start of the season, having recovered from a broken arm, and George Kruis coming off the bench for his first involvement following ankle surgery in the summer, Saracens can expect at least 10 of their squad to be selected by Eddie Jones, the England head coach.
David Strettle, the 35-year-old who won the last of his 14 caps in 2013, also did his best to remind Jones of his attacking prowess by scoring two late tries to seal the result against a Saints side who had threatened to snatch victory after claiming the lead with a second penalty by Dan Biggar.
It was Strettle’s first start since returning to the club after three years at Clermont and his performance earned high praise from
Mccall. “He’s a beautiful athlete,” said Mccall. “If you want to be a runner, that’s the way you should run. He did well in 40 minutes at Newcastle until he got concussed and today he was involved the whole time.” Alex Lewington, the 26-year-old wing who moved to Saracens from London Irish this season to forward his own England ambitions, also scored two tries.
“It’s good for us that our wingers are scoring,” Mccall added. “They understand it comes from a lot of hard yards on the inside – forwards getting over the gain line.” Jones would also have been encouraged by the return of Dylan Hartley to the Saints starting XV for the first time since January. The England captain scored his second try in two games and looks sharp again after his long lay-off with a concussion injury.
“Dylan is well on the way back to blowing his lungs out and knocking his body around,” said Chris Boyd, Northampton’s director of rugby. “I think he will get better as he beds himself back into playing.”
Hartley’s try was the result of Northampton’s dominant rolling maul, which troubled Saracens and resulted in two yellow cards, for Jamie George and Billy Vunipola, with Ben Franks also adding to a first-half try by Piers Francis.
Saracens were worthy victors, however, with Ben Spencer scoring a try and a penalty, while Alex Goode deputised superbly at flyhalf for Farrell, landing two secondhalf penalties.