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Owen Farrell starts for Saracens as host of England stars return
By Josh Raisey
England captain Owen Farrell is set to start for Saracens as one of seven England internationals who have returned from the World Cup to feature for the Gallagher Premiership champions against Leicester Tigers at the StoneX Stadium on Saturday.
Farrell will captain the London outfit against the Tigers, and will be joined in the starting XV by Billy Vunipola, Elliot Daly, Jamie George, Maro Itoje and Ben Earl, with the latter three seeing a lot of action for England in their World Cup campaign which only ended last week with a bronze medal. On top of those six starters, Theo Dan is also on the bench a week after his try-scoring display against Argentina at the Stade de France.
“It has been fantastic to be back at Sarries this week and be back with everyone,” Farrell said, as reported by the PA.
“It is always nice to come back after a while away, and we are now really excited to get stuck in to the season all together.”
Leicester, on the other hand, have decided to rest all of their England internationals for the trip down south.
Saracens XV: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Alex Lozowski, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Elliot Daly, 10 Owen Farrell (c), 9 Aled Davies, 1 Mako Vunipola, 2 Jamie George, 3 Marco Riccioni, 4 Maro Itoje, 5 Nick Isiekwe, 6 Andy Christie, 7 Ben Earl, 8 Billy Vunipola
Replacements: 16 Theo Dan, 17 Eroni Mawi, 18 Alec Clarey, 19 Callum Hunter-Hill, 20 Hugh Tizard, 21 Tom Willis, 22 Ivan van Zyl, 23 Tom Parton
Leicester Tigers XV: 15 Mike Brown [12], 14 Josh Bassett [5], 13 Guy Porter [66], 12 Dan Kelly [62], 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins [6], 10 Jamie Shillcock [7], 9 Tom Whiteley [10], 1 James Cronin [17], 2 Charlie Clare [83], 3 Joe Heyes [128], 4 Cameron Henderson [42], 5 Sam Carter [5], 6 Hanro Liebenberg (c) [90], 7 Tommy Reffell [101], 8 Olly Cracknell [28]
Replacements: 16 Nic Dolly [30], 17 Francois van Wyk [37], 18 Will Hurd [30], 19 Harry Wells [180], 20 Matt Rogerson [5], 21 Joe Powell [6], 22 Charlie Atkinson [22], 23 Solomone Kata*
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Latest Comments
Hopefully Joe stays where he is. That would mean Les, McKellar, larkham and Cron should as well. It’s the stability we need in the state programs. But, if Joe goes, RA with its current financial situation will be forced into promoting from within. And this will likely destabilise other areas.
To better understand some of the entrenched bitterness of those outside of NZ and NSW (as an example 😂), Nic, there is probably a comparison to the old hard heads of welsh rugby who are still stuck in the 1970s. Before the days where clubs merged, professionalism started, and the many sharp knives were put into the backs of those who loved the game more than everyone else. I’m sure you know a few... But given your comparison of rugby in both wales and Australia, there are a few north of the tweed that will never trust a kiwi or NSWelshman because of historical events and issues over the history of the game. It is what it is. For some, time does not heal all wounds. And it is still festering away in some people. Happy holidays to you. All the best in 2025.
Go to commentsNot surprised to see Barretts rating. He has always been a solid defender for the ABs but not particularly effective in attack situations.
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