Elliot Daly has been backed to reclaim his England place for next year’s World Cup after inspiring Saracens to a devastating 51-18 Gallagher Premiership victory over Leicester Tigers.
Daly missed the summer tour to Australia and on Monday was omitted from Eddie Jones’ first training squad of the autumn, but he responded by using his acceleration, running lines and handling to spearhead a seven-try rout.
Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall believes the versatile 29-year-old delivered the type of performance that will propel him back into Jones’ thinking.
“Elliot had a great game, he was outstanding on the ball. He was involved in everything that we did well from an attacking point of view,” McCall said.
“He’s lost his international place for the first time in a long time. He’s always been part of the squad.
“Not going on tour and not being selected in the 45-man squad isn’t easy for someone like him who has always been there.
“You saw his response and reaction against Leicester and he hasn’t given up hope of going to the World Cup.
“His ability to play 15, 13 and 11 probably gives him a very good chance of going if he continues to play like that.”
Saracens set the StoneX Stadium alight with a succession of stunning tries as they took partial revenge for losing to Leicester in last season’s Premiership final. McCall, however, was most encouraged by the response to conceding 14 penalties.
“We played well and looked dangerous with the ball, we asked them some questions,” McCall said.
“We actually gave away a lot of penalties in the first-half and sometimes that can be game losing.
“We don’t want to give that many penalties away but our reaction is what pleased me most – we rolled our sleeves up.
“We didn’t feel sorry for ourselves at all and almost took it on as a new challenge – bring it on kind of thing.”
Leicester boss Steve Borthwick insisted that Saracens’ power game was the key difference between the sides.
“Saracens are the standard bearers and they have been for quite some period of time,” Borthwick said.
“They have got superstars throughout their squad and superstars who aren’t able to make the 23. They are a very difficult opposition to play against.
“They are a team packed full of power and pace. There is a lot less power in the English game, it is very expensive and tends to go elsewhere, but Saracens have got power and pace.”
