Jamie George is a doubt for England’s Six Nations opener against Ireland in Dublin after limping out of Saracens’ Champions Cup defeat by Castres with a hamstring injury to cap a miserable week for the former national captain.
George, who was replaced by Maro Itoje as England captain last Tuesday, was introduced as a second-half replacement here but could do little to stop Saracens letting the match slip through their fingers, ensuring they face an away fixture at Toulon in the last 16.
Compounding matters for the 34-year-old hooker, he was withdrawn in the closing minutes and with England, who will head to Girona for a warm-weather training camp this week, beginning their Six Nations campaign in less than a fortnight, Steve Borthwick has a sizeable headache. “Jamie has hurt his hamstring,” McCall said. “We’re not quite sure how serious it is at the moment.”
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Toulouse score 80 points against Leicester
Leicester suffered their heaviest Champions Cup defeat as the holders, Toulouse, thrashed them 80-12 at Stade Ernest-Wallon. The French team ran in 12 tries to deny the Tigers a home draw in the competition’s round of 16. Toulouse ran in six first-half tries with the captain, Antoine Dupont, beginning the rout and Emmanuel Meafou adding a brace. Ange Capuozzo, Dimitri Delibes and Julien Marchand continued the blitz as Toulouse scored 42 points in a first half where Leicester failed to register a single score. There was slight improvement from Tigers after the break as Jack van Poortvliet and Will Hurd crossed for tries and Jamie Shillcock added a conversion. But Toulouse refused to show mercy as another six tries underlined their intent to retain the trophy. Capuozzo and Dupont scored again and Thibaud Flament went over twice. Thomas Ramos and Matthis Lebel completed the scoring as Leicester, who booked their place in the knockout stage after beating Ulster last weekend, settled for third place in the pool.
The England wing Tom Roebuck scored twice as Sale thumped Toulon 33-7 to qualify for the last 16 in style. In their final pool game, Alex Sanderson’s men needed a bonus-point win to reach the knock-out stages following their 40-0 hammering against Stormers in South Africa eight days earlier. This dominant performance, which saw Sale score through Roebuck’s brace, Ben Curry, Bevan Rodd and Tom O’Flaherty, ensured Sale must now travel to defending champions Toulouse in the last 16.
The France wing Damian Penaud set a new tournament record of six tries as Bordeaux thrashed Sharks 66-12 to secure top spot in Pool One and home advantage in the next round. The heavy defeat for Sharks meant Ulster leapfrogged them into fourth place and secure qualification for the round of 16 on points difference. PA Media
Truth be told, it was not a great afternoon for Borthwick – the form of Theo Dan aside. If George is unavailable against Ireland, Dan and Luke Cowan-Dickie are likely to fight it out for the No 2 jersey. Borthwick is already without Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Sam Underhill and George Furbank through injury and will anxiously await updates on those in action over the weekend before England head to Spain.
In Itoje’s case, this was his final match with Saracens before he formally begins his tenure as England captain. As such, here was the chance to demonstrate precisely why Borthwick has promoted him. Instead, under Itoje’s watch Saracens failed to see out victory in the last quarter in a manner all too familiar to England supporters.
It was hardly a ringing endorsement of his leadership credentials and the upshot is that Saracens wasted the chance to secure a home tie in the last 16. They, and Castres, had already qualified for the knockout stages before kick-off but Saracens must now do things the hard way if they are to add to their three Champions Cup titles.
It may seem harsh to single out Itoje but Borthwick last week made a point of explaining his captaincy switch on the grounds that the second row stays the course for 80 minutes. His leadership in the final quarter will inevitably come in for scrutiny in the coming weeks then. With Saracens trailing by five points in the 73rd minute there was a lengthy stoppage in play due to a nasty-looking injury to Toby Knight.
Itoje could be seen deep in conversation with his lieutenants and it is easy to imagine those sorts of discussions being repeated over the next couple of months. Itoje was then dishing out instructions in a wider huddle with his team-mates. Did his words resonate? Saracens soon won a penalty, kicked for position but George made a mess of the lineout. A late Castres penalty then put Saracens out of sight and they can argue little with that outcome.
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Take nothing away from the visitors. Even after their impressive start, the manner in which Saracens responded to take a 19-14 lead into the half-time interval suggested a comfortable home victory. Two tries in the final half an hour, however, from Theo Chabouni and the captain Adrien Seguret, left Saracens reeling.
Perhaps liberated by the fact that the Bulls’ emphatic victory over Stade Francais on Saturday had ensured Castres’ qualification, maybe because they were given little chance after making 15 changes to their side, but the visitors caught Saracens cold in the opening exchanges. Andrea Cocagi blasted his way straight through the Saracens defence and while he was brought down before the try-line, he had caused enough chaos that it was an easy finish for the No 8 Febiyan Tukino. Saracens responded with Dan demonstrating his dynamism with a mighty close-range burst but Castres would not be stopped in their pursuit for a second try with Seguret finishing off.
Cue a Saracens onslaught with Ben Earl to the fore. An ugly knock-on from the England back-rower wasted a promising opportunity but Earl powered over after Saracens laid siege to the Castres line before adding a second from a driving maul just before the interval.
Louis le Brun’s penalty brought Castres back to within two points early in the second half but Saracens took route one again to clinch their fourth try with another driving lineout, this time Dan the beneficiary. Castres stayed in touch with another try that owed much to Raisuqe’s power, Daly unceremoniously bashed away by the visiting wing before the fullback Chabouni touched down. A scything break by the replacement scrum-half Santiago Arata – again Daly did not cover himself in glory in a difficult second half for the fullback – then led to Seguret’s second before a closing 10 minutes in which Saracens could make no headway.
