Saracens are prepared to play their Champions Cup knockout clash against Ospreys without Owen Farrell rather than take any risks on their captain's ankle injury.
Farrell hobbled out of the closing stages of Saracens' 36-24 win over Harlequins on Saturday that sealed a home Gallagher Premiership semi-final.
The talisman fly-half bossed the game in front of a 55,000-strong crowd at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, only to spend the final moments icing his left ankle on the bench.
Farrell’s complaint is a recurrence of the injury that had threatened his participation in England’s final Six Nations match against Ireland in Dublin.
The 31-year-old recovered in time to start that 29-16 defeat at the Aviva Stadium on March 18 as Ireland sealed the fourth Grand Slam in their history.
Saracens will now assess Farrell’s latest setback early this week, leaving him a doubt for Sunday’s last-16 European meeting with Ospreys at StoneX Stadium.
"We just need to see to what degree he’s aggravated it," said rugby director Mark McCall. "It was a grade one before which is normally a seven-day turnaround that he managed to do for the England week, and played that game.
“Whether or not it’s still a grade one, we’ll see, but if it’s more than that, he won’t play. We want to make a good decision on that. It would be great to have him, but if we don’t have him, we’ll get on with it. We certainly won’t play him if he’s not right.”
Billy Vunipola led Saracens' charge against a manful but outmanoeuvred Quins, capping a challenging time out of the England picture by sustaining his club form.
"I know there was an extra level of responsibility that I had to carry here when the boys were away with England," said Vunipola. "It’s something I've become a lot more comfortable with.
"Last year, I became very selfish and wanting to force myself back into the England team. But I’ve seen a better way is to help others around me, who then in turn help me.
"It was very important to park it, move on, and help others around me as well as being inspiring to others.”
London Irish stepped into the top four by dismissing Northampton 37-22 at Brentford. The Exiles will go all out for a first play-off campaign since 2009, with boss Declan Kidney happy to be deemed underdogs.
"There’s nothing expected of us, we have said we’ll enjoy the journey and take each moment as it comes," said Kidney.
“I’m sure if you went down to any of the betting offices you wouldn’t get many saying we’ll be in the top four with three games to go, but what about it."
