It was a gesture to warm hearts on the coldest of December evenings. As the clock ticked beyond the ten-minute mark at Saracens’ StoneX Stadium, pockets of home supporters rose to their feet in a coordinated ovation, a show of support for their absent captain. The news of Owen Farrell’s decision to step away from international rugby had been the talk of the supporters traipsing across from the cobbled car park, the complex conversations of a difficult week for rugby, sport and, most importantly, Farrell itself brought to the fore.
Farrell’s absence from the Saracens side beaten here was not in relation to this week’s news, a knock to the knee last weekend ruling him out, with more than half-an-eye on next week’s Champions Cup opener against the Bulls in Pretoria, too.
