Game starved Saracens have organised another two friendlies.
Saracens have organised two friendly fixtures against Coventry Rugby for February as they bid to get their squad some much-needed playing time.
Saracens lost to Ealing in their first match of the Trailfinders Challenge Cup and last weekend had their match against Doncaster Knights cancelled.
With England calling on six of their top players for the Six Nations, it won't be a full-strength side, but it is likely Saracens will be looking to blood a significant number of first-liners after their understrength performance against Dave Ward's ambitious Ealing.
The first match will Saracens debut game at the newly named StoneX Stadium, where they will host Warwickshire-based the club on Saturday 20th February (kick-off 3pm). They will then travel to Butts Park Arena six days later for an evening fixture on Friday 26th (kick-off time 6pm).
Sarries DoR Mark McCall said: “It was important for the squad to have an extensive run of pre-season fixtures leading into the Championship season, so we’re really pleased to have confirmed two additional fixtures against Coventry in February.
“The two matches, along with the Trailfinders Challenge Cup, are the perfect opportunity to further accelerate the development of our younger players with some competitive game time ahead of the 2020/21 campaign.”
Coventry Rugby Director of Rugby Rowland Winter believes the games will be a good test of their mettle ahead of the shortend Green King IPA season. “We wanted to test ourselves against Saracens this season and even though they will not be in our Championship Conference it will be good for us to play them in February."
“I’m sorry that we will not be able to have supporters in the stands at Butts Park to watch in person, but hopefully they will be able to watch the live stream and we know that they will be behind us all the way.”
Fans are being urged to stay away from the venue on the day. Both matches will be live-streamed by the home club.
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i think Argentina v France could be a good game too, depending on which Argentina turns up. The most difficult to call is Scotland Australia.
Go to commentsSmith is playing a different game with the rest of the backs struggling to understand. That's the problem with so called playmakers, if nobody gets what they're doing then it often just leads to a turnover. It gets worse when Borthwick changes one of them, which is why they don't score points at the end. Sometimes having a brilliant playmaker can be problematic if a team cannot be built around them. Once again Borthwick seems lacking in either coaching or selection. I can't help but think it's the latter coupled with pressure to select the big name players.
Lastly, his forward replacements are poor and exposed either lack of depth or selection pressure. Cole hemorrhages scrum penalties whenever he comes on, opponents take advantage of the England scrum and close out the game. Is that the best England can offer?
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