Saracens to be lifted by return of fit-again Itoje
Saracens 27 Harlequins 20
Saracens have been given a major boost ahead of their Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final as Maro Itoje, the England lock who missed four Six Nations matches with a knee injury, is poised to return for the game against Glasgow at Allianz Park on Saturday.
Itoje has been out of action since he suffered medial ligament damage in England’s victory over Ireland in Dublin last month but has been cleared to play and could even feature in the back row for Saracens following the man-of-the-match display by Will Skelton in the Premiership victory over Harlequins at the London Stadium on Saturday.
Saracens director of rugby Mark Mccall will also welcome back Owen Farrell and George Kruis, both rested for this hard-fought victory that featured three returning England players, Billy Vunipola, Jamie George and Ben Spencer.
Skelton, who scored two secondhalf tries as Saracens overturned an 11-point deficit at half-time, said the impact of the returning internationals – Liam Williams and Sean Maitland also started – had brought a new level of energy to the squad.
Saracens lost twice during the Six Nations, but Skelton believes they will be back to full strength against Glasgow, now that the internationals have reintegrated into the squad.
“I think we’re in a good place,” said Skelton. “In the past, these four games that we’ve missed during the Six Nations, we have had a fourgame bloc that in the past we haven’t done very well in.
“This time, we’ve got maybe nine or 10 points out of this Premiership period. We have got that momentum going into the European Cup.
“We have got some soldiers coming back – George Kruis and Owen Farrell didn’t play this week, so hopefully they’ll be in the mix, and we can put our best foot forward against Glasgow.
“Whenever the boys come back from international duty, they bring us new energy and it is our job as the players who have been here to keep a high standard so it’s an easy transition for them.”
The review of the first half of this match, in which Harlequins established a commanding 17-6 lead thanks to tries by Marcus Smith and Danny Care – from a line-out when Saracens thought the first-half clock had run down – will not make for pretty viewing for Mccall’s players however.
It was an error-ridden display lacking accuracy and ball retention, but yet impressively they managed to change the momentum after the break, with Harlequins’ woeful discipline – they conceded 19 penalties to six in total – ensuring that they spent most of the period trapped in their own half.
Saracens’ margin of victory would have been much greater if “tries” by David Strettle and Vunipola had not been ruled out in controversial fashion: Strettle’s for an off-the-ball scuffle between Care and Williams, and Vunipola’s because he collided with referee JP Doyle, who ruled that he had impeded Chris Robshaw from making the tackle.
Tries by Schalk Burger and Skelton’s double, however, ultimately ensured a comfortable victory.
“As a forward pack, we felt we let the team down in the first half,” Skelton added.
“Physically we weren’t there, and then in the second half we got a rev-up from the coaches.
“The guys who like to carry stepped up, the guys who put big hits in did that. We played well in the second half.
“One of the boys said we had a plan during the week, and we veered off course in the first half. In the second half, we went back to basics, stuck to the plan, kept it simple and got the result.
“It was always a next-job mentality for us. Whether that was a ref ’s call or if we dropped a ball or if they made a nice line break and we were under the pump, the boys come together in any stoppage and it showed out there.”