Owen Farrell has suffered a setback on his continued comeback from ankle surgery after he was ruled out of Saracens’ trip to Sale on Friday with a head injury. Manu Tuilagi is, however, in line for a return having been named on the bench for the Sharks.
Farrell made his first appearance since November last Saturday, having twice undergone ankle surgery, scoring 12 points in Saracens’ narrow victory over Bristol at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. He was replaced after 70 minutes for a head injury assessment and while the Saracens director of rugby, Mark McCall, said shortly after full time that Farrell had passed, he has not been deemed ready to face Sale.
It is another blow for the England captain, who has managed just six appearances for club and country this season. After the Bristol victory, McCall admitted Farrell would improve the more he could string a series of matches together but his latest setback is typical of his stop-start season so far and his tackling technique was again put under the microscope after he was penalised for a high tackle on Piers O’Conor.
Tuilagi, who like Farrell missed the entire Six Nations, is set to feature for the first time since 12 February. Tuilagi was due to start England’s third match against Wales but sustained another hamstring injury in training. It was the same hamstring he injured on England duty in November, leading to questions over whether he had been rushed back into the international fold too soon. Both players were sorely missed during England’s disappointing Six Nations campaign and would be shoo-ins for the summer tour of Australia, provided they can demonstrate their form and fitness between now and the end of the season.
Saracens, meanwhile, can take another step closer towards securing a home playoff with victory at the AJ Bell stadium while Sale can move into the top four with a win. “We didn’t quite click last week but the group hasn’t been together for a while so we learnt a lot and all of our focus is on finishing this block on a high,” said the Saracens centre Nick Tompkins. “Sale have a wealth of talent and they will be very physical but we feel like we are building some good momentum and want to continue that.”
