England players thrown back in at Premiership deep end

Owen Farrell and George Kruis sit out Saracens local derby with Harlequins, but nine of the England match squad beaten by Grand Slam winners Ireland will be on duty in front of a sell-out 57,000 crowd at the London Stadium tomorrow.

Farrell and Kruis were injured on test duty last weekend which means an enforced rest at a time when the pressure on England’s top players has been pinpointed as a major problem following the woeful fifth place finish in the Six Nations. The fact that so many England players are thrown straight back onto the rugby treadmill is a worrying scenario with Sarries also facing a European Champions Cup quarter-final with Leinster in Dublin on April 1.

Sarries hope Farrell and Kruis will be back for the quarter-final while Billy Vunipola, who missed the Six Nations with a broken arm, is struggling to be ready to help keep alive the club’s bid for a third successive Champions Cup triumph.

Maro Itoje, highlighted as a player struggling to recapture his best form, is named in the Saracens side along with fellow England internationals Richard Wigglesworth and Jamie George with Mako Vunipola on the bench while Quins feature five England players – four in team Chris Robshaw, Danny Care, Mike Brown, Kyle Sinckler – and Joe Marler on the bench.

However, Quins captain James Horwill, the former Wallaby skipper, believes a massive Premiership clash with their local rivals, who are chasing leaders Exeter, can help his England players get over the bitter disappointment of the Six Nations and insists the players are looked after by the clubs.

Horwill said: “You need to be aware of the work load being put on certain guys which is being managed. We have players who have had a lot of rugby and others who are coming back from injury and it is all about individual training loads. It is also about assimilating the international guys back into the squad a soon as possible.”

“It is a challenging time for everyone. When players have been at a club for a long time there is a feeling of “the comfort of home” when you get back from test duty and that can be refreshing for them. The international set up , particularly during the Six Nations, can be very intense and there is no time to relax. From my test experience, it can be a nice change to get back to the club game.”

Horwill is also confident Quins, ten points adrift of the European Champions Cup qualification places, can make up for lost ground with their test players back and England flanker Jack Clifford now fit to join the match squad tomorrow.

He added; “We will soon see if we can close the gap and we need to start winning. We have five games to go at the back end of the season which is a bit disjointed with different competitions taking place with a week on, week off situation. We are getting players back from injury and maybe the break between Premiership matches could be a help.”

“The last couple of games with Saracens has been a Wembley and they were great occasions at such an historic stadium. Now we get to play at another fantastic stadium with a sell-out crowd and this is a big weekend for club rugby in rugby with Newcastle taking their match to St James’s Park as well.”

“It is always a big game for us being a derby game and you always like to perform against them. We know they are a quality side packed with international and being able to bring more off the bench.”