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Hamilton: Having seen Scotland, Glasgow will feel they have found a way to rattle Owen Farrell but he will be too good for them

England captain Owen Farrell sits on the bench after being replaced during the Guinness Six Nations draw with Scotland at Twickenham this month (Photo by David Rogers - RFU/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

I love the Champions Cup, love the mad rush that happens leading up to the quarter-finals. This is a tournament that is drawn-out and disjointed as teams have had the Six Nations break. Players come back either on a high or a low and usually need a week off, so there is no momentum going into these quarter-finals.

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It’s knockout rugby, a one-off game. If you look at history and the stats gone by for the quarter-finals, it’s really difficult to go away from home and win. But the rugby has opened up massively this season in terms of the way teams are playing, in terms of some of the performances of the players, and in terms of the some of the decisions that are being made.

This is one the best quarter-final set-ups I have ever seen across the board. All the games are really difficult to call, apart from one of the four. It’s going to be a brilliant weekend.

SARACENS v GLASGOW WARRIORS – Saturday, 3.15pm (Allianz Park)

How intriguing that Owen Farrell’s first game since England’s second-half collapse against Scotland at Twickenham is against some of those very same Scottish players.

(Continue reading below…)

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Farrell is one of those players who divides opinion. There is no middle ground. You either love him or you hate him. He definitely does divide opinion.

Having played with and against him, he is not a player that gets rattled. You can look at that Scotland-England game and say he was.

Stuart McInally scores Scotland’s first try despite the efforts of England’s Owen Farrell during this month’s Guinness Six Nations match at Twickenham (Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images)
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He did get charged down by Stuart McInally, he did throw the intercept pass to Finn Russell, he did make a controversial tackle on Darcy Graham and he ultimately got yanked off by the coach. But I don’t think you can look at it like that here. Farrell is a world-class talent, a born winner.

Having watched Scotland, Glasgow and their fans will feel they have found a way to rattle him. Definitely, that is the way they need to go about it, they need to put loads of pressure on him and test him. However, they also need to be very careful and conscious that he is a world-class player who does rise to these big occasions.

Saracens-Glasgow has become almost like a bit of a rivalry. They have a very Scottish backbone to their team, the same way Saracens have an English backbone, and there is a bit of spice.

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I played in the quarter-final game a few years ago (Saracens won 38-13 in an April 2017 quarter-final before lifting the trophy) and that was a big, big game for Saracens.

Saracens’ Jamie George takes exception to Glasgow’s Callum Gibbins placing a hand on his neck during the Champions Cup match at Scotstoun in October 2018 (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

We took that game very, very seriously and you look now at this season’s pool stages where Saracens and Glasgow have played each other twice. Glasgow made a real go of that game at Scotstoun. That was a tough game for the Saracens players, but the Londoners still won and it was a more comfortable victory down at Allianz Park in the return fixture.

Experience and pedigree mean a lot at this European level. Saracens are well adapted to this tournament and we know that from recent history. They have got big-game players.

Saracens’ Billy Vunipola of takes off with the ball against Harlequins’ Joe Marchant and Nathan Earle in last weekend’s Gallagher Premiership Rugby match (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)

We are seeing Billy Vunipola slowly getting back to his best. Then you add in the talent of guys like Liam Williams, who is definitely in form, Farrell coming back into it, Maro Itoje potentially being fit, Will Skelton putting in a world-class performance last weekend against Harlequins… they just know how to win.

It’s going to be tough for Glasgow, even though there are a few good things about the Warriors. Stuart Hogg could potentially be involved and the fact is Glasgow are used to playing on these 4G surfaces that there is so many discussions about at the minute.

It can be a big shift for teams going from a grass pitch and having to play a must-win game in a knockout competition on a pitch that you are just not at all used to. Glasgow will be used to it because of Scotstoun.

But it seems like Glasgow are limping a little bit into this game. They have won their last five PRO14 matches, but Ryan Wilson is injured and there is uncertainty about who is going to be at No10. They are not as settled as the Saracens team and that will be their downfall.

VERDICT – This is a foregone conclusion. Saracens to win.

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JW 1 hour ago
James O'Connor, the Lions and the great club v country conundrum

Lol you need to shoot your editor for that headline, even I near skipped the article.


France simply need to go to a league format for the Brennus, that will shave two weekends of pointless knockout rugby from their season and raise the competitions standards and mystique no end.


The under age loophole is also a easy door to shut, just remove the lower age limit. WR simply never envisioned a day were teams would target people under the age of 17 or whatever it is now, but much like with Rassie and his use of subs bench, that day was obviously always going to come. I can’t remember how football does it, I think it’s the other way around with them, you can’t sign anyone younger than that but unions can’t stop 17 or 18 yo’s from leaving for a pro club if they want to. There is a transaction that takes place of a few hundred thousand for a normal average player. I’d prefer rugby to be stricter and just keep the union bodies signoff being required.


What really was their problem with Kite and co leaving though? Do we really need a game dominated by Internationals? I even think WR’s proposed calendar might be a bit too much, with at minimum 12 top tier games being played in the World Championship. I think 10 to 12, maybe any one player playing 10 of those 12 is the best way to think of it, for every international team is max, so that they can allow their domestic comps to shine if they want, and other nations like Japan and Fiji can, even some of the home nations maybe, and fill out their calendar with extra tours if they like them as a way to make money. As it is RA don’t have as good a pathway system, so they could simply buy back those players if they turn good. Are they worried they’ll be less likely to? We wait for baited breath for the new season to be laid out in front of us by WR.

It could impose sanctions on the Fédération Française de Rugby, but the body which runs the Top 14 and the ProD2, the Ligue Nationale de Rugby, is entirely independent.

It’s not independent at all. The LNR is a body under, and commissioned by, the FFR (and Government control) to mediate the clubs. FFR can simply install a new club competition if they don’t listen, then you’d see whether the players want to stay at any club who doesn’t tow the line and move to the new competition, as they obviously wouldn’t fall under the auspice of world rugby. They would be rebels, which is fine in and upon itself, but they would isolate themselves from the rest of the game and would need to be OK with that. I have no doubt whatsoever that clubs would have to and want to fall in line to remain part of the EPCR and French rugby. Probably even the last thing they would want is to compete with another French domestic competition that has all the advantages they don’t.


All those players would do good for a few seasons in France, especially the fringe ones, with thankfully zero risk of them being poached if they turn good. New Zealand had a turn at keeping all of it’s talent, and while it upticked the competitiveness of the Super Rugby teams into a total dominance of Australian and South African counterparts (who were suffering more heavily than most the other way at that stage), it didn’t have as positive an effect on the next step up as ensuring young talents development is not hindered does. Essentially NZR flooded the locate market with players but inevitably it didn’t think the local economy could sustain any more pro teams itself, so now we are seeing a normal amount of exodus for the availability of places again. Are Australia in exactly the same footing? I think so, finances where dicey for a while perhaps but I doubt they are putting money constraints on their contracting now. It’s purely about who leaves to open up opportunity.

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