Itoje injury mars Saracens’ bonus-point win
Saracens secured a comfortable bonus-point win yesterday to take a firm grip on Pool Three of the European Champions Cup but the news was not so good for their in-form England forward Maro Itoje, who was forced off in the second half with an injury to his left arm.
Itoje, who turns 22 next Friday, has rapidly become a fixture in the England starting line-up, as well as for Saracens, but the injury he picked up in an apparently innocuous incident in a pile-up after he made a tackle was immediately said to be likely to need looking at by a specialist. The Londoner headed down the
players' tunnel holding his wrist gingerly.
England’s assistant coaches Steve Borthwick and Neal Hatley were here watching and will report what is yet another problematical development back to their boss Eddie Jones, who has a handful of selection worries in the back five of the pack ahead of the autumn internationals starting against South Africa in three weeks’ time.
Itoje’s club-mate and fellow lock George Kruis was already considered likely to be out for the autumn after a recent ankle operation. And there had been talk of Itoje switching to the back row to cover other injuries to James Haskell, Jack Clifford, Sam Jones and Mike Williams.
Wales’s caretaker boss Rob Howley was dealing with similar troubles after full-back Liam Williams and second-rower Jake Ball were substituted, and centre Scott Williams failed to start, a fortnight ahead of their autumn opener with Australia in Cardiff. While Saracens were setting a Champions Cup record by winning all nine of their matches on the way to lifting the trophy in Lyons last season – and embellished it brilliantly with an opening pool victory away to Toulon seven days ago – the Scarlets experienced the flipside: six pool losses out of six, to complete a ninth straight year of failing to make it into the knockout stage. But last weekend’s 28-11 win over Sale in west Wales had raised hopes of something better this time around, despite the withering toughness of this group.
Fly-half Rhys Patchell kicked three penalty goals for Scarlets in first half but the late withdrawal of Scott Williams was compounded by his full-back namesake Liam limping off with a twisted left ankle after 13 minutes. Ironically it might be good news for Patchell who was not one of the seven Scarlets named in the
Wales squad in midweek but who played at full-back on tour in New Zealand in the summer.
Saracens had seen their own inside centre – not to mention captain and defensive fulcrum – Brad Barritt pull out with a stiff neck. But they were comfortably ahead by the interval, 20-9, with tries by the England loosehead prop Mako Vunipola and Barritt’s stand-in, the 21-year-old Nick Tompkins.
Vunipola scored in a wide channel with a lavish dummy bought by Steff Evans among others, after an initial line-out take by Schalk Burger and snappy centre-field handling by Schalk Brits, Maro Itoje and Michael Rhodes. And Tompkins showed how his late inclusion added nimble footwork and pace to the Saracens midfield, as he beat five Scarlets with a weaving, 35-metre run-in to finish off a counter-attack by Chris Wyles that was given crucial impetus by tighthead prop Juan Figallo’s short charge.
On a day of falling temperatures and sombre feelings in the aftermath of the passing of Munster’s Anthony Foley, any notion that the Scarlets might open up with some old-fashioned run-at-all-costs rugby were limited by their kicking game plan, understandably enough in all the circumstances.
Patchell opened the second half with a penalty but Saracens had the bonus point safely snaffled by the 53rd minute. Farrell was involved twice in a move that featured yet another sumptuous run and offload by the remarkable Vunipola – the man is playing as a unique kind of hybrid prop-flanker-centre at the moment. Farrell’s long pass put Marcelo Bosch in at the left corner. Then Wyles added to his try in Toulon a week ago with another on the left wing after Scarlets lost the ball with a handling error.
And all the while the seemingly infallible Farrell was knocking over each conversion, to add to two firsthalf penalties, as Saracens led 34-12.
Aaron Shingler grabbed a try for Scarlets after 59 minutes, and Williams’s fellow Wales centre Jonathan Davies did likewise with eight minutes left, with Patchell converting both, but Farrell popped another penalty over in between and the home fly-half and skipper for the day notched a fifth and final conversion when the impressive Rhodes completed the try-scoring.
Teams
Saracens: A Goode; S Maitland, M Bosch (M Ellery 70, N Tompkins (A Lozowski 64), C Wyles; O Farrell (capt), R Wigglesworth (B Spencer 55); M Vunipola (R Barrington 57), S Brits (J George 50), J Figallo (P du Plessis 66), M Itoje (J Wray 46), J Hamilton, M Rhodes, S Burger, B Vunipola (K Brown 67).
Scorers: Tries: M Vunipola, Tompkins, Bosch, Wyles, Rhodes; Conversions: Farrell 5; Penalties: Farrell 3.
Scarlets: L Williams (S Hughes 14); DTH van der Merwe, J Davies, H Parkes, S Evans; R Patchell, G Davies (J Evans 57); W Jones (L Garrett 65), K Owens (capt; R Elias 57), S Lee (W Kruger 52), J Ball (D Jones 67), D Bulbring (L Rawlins 55), A Shingler, W Boyde, J Barclay (J MacLeod 65).
Scorers: Tries: Shingler, J Davies; Conversions: Patchell 2; Penalties: Patchell 4.
Referee: P Gauzere (France).
Attendance: 9,084.