1
'To lose three players within an hour was a bit disappointing'
Mark McCall has given his thoughts on the desperate Saturday of Test rugby where Saracens had Owen Farrell and Jamie George seriously injured when playing for England and Marco Riccioni even more seriously hurt when playing for Italy just shortly before that. It was November 13 when that afternoon’s Autumn Nations Series schedule kicked off with the Italians hosting Argentina in Treviso with the English taking on the Wallabies in London not long after.
ADVERTISEMENT
Riccioni played just 50 minutes of the 16-37 Italy loss to the Pumas, the tighthead rupturing his ACL, and an operation will mean he will miss the remainder of the 2021/22 season for both country and club. Meanwhile, at Twickenham, George only managed to play the first half versus Australia due to a knee injury that will sideline him for between eight to ten weeks while England and Saracens skipper Farrell limped off after 68 minutes and an ankle operation last Friday will keep him out for ten to twelve weeks.
“In terms of Owen and Jamie, it is what it is,” explained McCall about England duo Farrell and George at his weekly Saracens media briefing. “We also lost Marco and his is a much more serious injury. We are devastated for Marco as he has made a big impression on the group since he came. Effectively he is out for the season and he gets an opportunity next Wednesday. It was an ACL so he is out for the season which is a real shame for him because he has been really good for us.
“Owen had an operation on Friday and is just in the process of feeling his way back from that. We aim to have him back – well you never know – but hopefully at some point at the end of January. Let’s wait and see. Jamie George didn’t need an operation so he is getting on with his rehab now and we will just see how that goes and whether we can get him back a little bit earlier than anticipated.
“To lose those three players within the space of an hour was a bit disappointing but it is what it is and we are not the only club who suffer injuries. Everyone else is back in good health and everybody who has been away is back and available for selection this weekend. Because our game (against Sale) is on the Sunday, we didn’t get together until Tuesday so that has given everybody a bit of breathing space.
Alex Sanderson has been speaking about Manu Tuilagi and the scan result for the hamstring injured when scoring for England#Sale #GallagherPrem #England #AutumnNationsSeries https://t.co/sthvgTndur
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 24, 2021
“We didn’t have as many people as normal away. It was only Maro (Itoje) and Max (Malins) returning from England, Nick Tompkins from Wales, Eroni Mawi coming back from Fiji and Vinny Koch coming back from South Africa as well. Not as many as normal and we have always found they are pleased to be back amongst their friends at the club. At the same time, we do realise they played at Twickenham in front of 80,000 one weekend and it’s quite an enormous thing to do and then go and play a Premiership match after that.
“So I am glad we have a Sunday game, glad they had that time Sunday, Monday just to get their heads around that and thankfully we have got a couple of pretty big matches ourselves and have holidays planned for some of those players later in December.
ADVERTISEMENT
“There is inevitably going to be some comedown from something so big and it’s for us to make things as easy and simple for them as possible and not be too demanding. Some of the senior players who weren’t away on internationals have taken up the mantle over the last few weeks. Billy and Mako (Vunipola), Jackson Wray, Alex Goode have been magnificent really.”
Switching back to Farrell, who faces a race to be fit in time for the start of the England 2022 Six Nations campaign on the first Saturday in February, McCall added: “I talked to him on Thursday evening before the operation he had and just had some reflections on his time with England. Of course, Owen is a big match animal. He relishes those occasions.
“To miss out on Tonga was a hugely frustrating one to miss in the manner that it happened but to miss out on a game as big as the South African one was desperately disappointing for him because he loves those occasions so much. But we know he will get back as quickly as he can and hopefully have some time to play a game or two for us before going to the Six Nations but we will wait and see on that.
“He is captain of the club and he is hugely keen to be involved. He only got his operation on Friday and for now, he is not all that comfortable or all that mobile. He is only coming into the club to get his wound dressed and that kind of thing but he has been on the phone with me, with our attack coach, and once he is able and can come into the club he will be much more involved. He is very keen to be involved.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to comments