Saracens team to face Leicester Tigers

Posted on May 11, 2012 in Premiership, Saracens

All eyes are on Welford Road on Saturday as Saracens face Leicester Tigers in the semi-finals of the Aviva Premiership.

In team news ahead of the game, Charlie Hodgson returns to start at fly half with Owen Farrell named at centre for the knockout clash. Will Fraser returns to the starting line-up while Matt Stevens and Carlos Nieto swap places with the England prop starting and Nieto among the replacements.

Chris Wyles moves to the wing with James Short on the bench along with the likes of John Smit, Richard Wigglesworth and Hugh Vyvyan.

Justin Melck has been ruled out after suffering a knee injury in the final minute of the match against Exeter Chiefs last weekend. The flanker underwent surgery on a damaged ACL on Thursday and is set to be ruled out for up to nine months.

“It’s a massive match,” explained Saracens Director of Rugby Mark McCall. “We’ve had a very good week of preparation but we know it is going to be a very tough game and we will have to be at our best to get the result we want.

“Leicester have a phenomenal semi final record but we have had some excellent performances in recent weeks with wins against London Irish, Newcastle Falcons and Exeter Chiefs so we are really looking forward to the match.”

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Owen Farrell backs Sport Relief

Posted on Mar 6, 2012 in Sport Relief

Owen Farrell today launched a special ticket for the Saracens’ Aviva Premiership match with Harlequins at Wembley on 31 March, with proceeds going to Sport Relief.

Farrell, the England outside-half, will be back on Saracens duty in time for the clash between London’s top two clubs at the home of English football in four week’s time.

"Saracens has always been a club that has prided itself on its work in the community so it is only right that we make charity donations for the tickets sold for the Wembley match," said Farrell.

"I hear that 50,000 tickets have already gone but I would encourage sports fans to come to Wembley on 31 March and buy a ticket which will do some good by making a donation to Sport Relief.

"They’ll see a cracking match, have the chance to watch McFly perform before the game and help raise some cash for Sport Relief. What could be better?

"Fitness and selection permitting, I will be back from England duty by the time the match comes round so I can’t wait to run out at Wembley, against one of our biggest rivals. Some 81,000 people saw the fixture between the two teams earlier in the season – at Twickenham – and another bumper crowd is guaranteed this time."

Special Sport Relief tickets have gone on sale today with a minimum of £6.10 from every £15.00 ticket sold going to Sport Relief. To buy your ticket, visit www.saracensatwembley.com or call 0844 847 2482.

This marks the launch of Premiership Rugby’s two year partnership with Sport Relief where Premiership Rugby will be asking the rugby world to join the Premiership Rugby and Sport Relief Team to Change Lives. Anyone joining the team will help to raise money to support people living unimaginably tough lives, both on our doorsteps in the UK and across the world’s poorest countries. This includes Premiership Rugby’s ground-breaking social inclusion project Hitz, which recently signed up its 1,000th participant.

Owen Farrell among six young English players to sign new Saracens deals

Posted on Jan 14, 2011 in Rugby News

Emerging fly half Owen Farrell is among six talented young English players who have extended their contracts at Saracens.

Farrell, hooker Jamie George, lock George Kruis, flanker Jackson Wray, scrumhalf Luke Baldwin and winger James Short have all committed their futures to the north London club.

Mark McCall, Director of Rugby, said: “There’s no doubt we have a really special group of youngsters at the club. It’s exciting to see them develop as players on the field in the Premiership and also as individuals off the field thriving within our personal development programme. They are the future of Saracens, and the future is now.”

Knights make changes: Bedford’s Rayer under no illusions

Posted on Sep 17, 2010 in Championship, English Rugby

 

Two Welshmen face each other on an English field of battle as Doncaster Knights under one of Pontypridd’s favourite sons, Lynn Howells takes on Bedford Blues headed by Cardiff’s Mike Rayer. There will be no room for sentiment however, as the old rivals do battle at the top of the Championship table.

Doncaster’s Director of Rugby Lynn Howells makes two changes for Saturday’s match at home to Bedford (KO 2.30pm) from the side that had an excellent win away at Bristol the previous weekend. In the pack, hooker Steve Boden returns in place of the injured Steve Lawrie whilst, in the backs, winger Andy Wright, last season’s leading try scorer, gets a start ahead of Dougie Flockhart. The Knights will be looking to build on the performance they put in last weekend at the Memorial Ground as they return to Castle Park for what promises to be a humdinger of a match against second place Bedford.

The Blues are heading up the M1 to Yorkshire once again this weekend to face a Doncaster side who appear to be finding their feet and hitting a rich vein of form at the moment.

Last weekend the Knights inflicted a third defeat of the season on Bristol as they chalked up 12-26 win at the Memorial Ground, but the Blues are also riding high after racking up a 31-9 victory over Esher who had also beaten Bris the week before.

But the win against Esher did come at a cost to the Blues squad. Following a rather horrendous hit, Duncan Taylor is facing between four and six weeks on the sidelines with a fractured clavicle (collar bone). Mike Howard and Sacha Harding are also missing from this weekend’s encounter after picking up knocks in the same game. Howard has a knee ligament problem and will be missing for at least a fortnight while Harding is ruled out with a hip problem. Brendan Burke has been suffering from a back injury and misses out again, but the Irishman has been receiving treatment and shouldn’t be too far from a return. Ian Vass, Sam Walsh, Ben Lewitt and Robin Boot are all still out of action.

Looking ahead to the game Blues director of rugby Mike Rayer said: "Doncaster are always a difficult team to face whether it be on the road or at home and I’m sure that they will be buoyed by their result against Bristol last weekend.

"We’ve not had the easiest of weeks with so many players picking up knocks and we are having to manage the use of players such as Owen Farrell and James Short who are involved not only with us, but Saracens as well.

"That said, I have every confidence in the squad that we have put together and we have such depth that we are able to call on players and rotate positionally when needed and that is what we are doing this weekend. Laurence Ovens has recovered from the knock he took at Rotherham and Edd Thrower comes in for his first start which will be fantastic for him and is great for the squad as a whole.

"We are under no illusions going into this game, it is not only going to be a real test of character but a test of our squad depth. What we have to do is improve our performance after our last trip on the road. Our ability to control the ball and take opportunities when they present themselves will be crucial as we know Donny have the ability to keep sides under the cosh for sustained periods."

Bedford make nine changes to the side that started against Esher with Edd Thrower, Ollie Dodge, Myles Dorrian coming into the backs in place of Duncan Taylor, James Short and Owen Farrell respectively. Up front Laurence Ovens replaces Phil Boulton, Alex Rae rotates with Gregor Gillanders, Chris Gooman comes in for the injured Sacha Harding and Paul Tupai returns for the crocked Mike Howard having served an internal one match ban. James Pritchard moves to outside centre while Dan Seal reverts back to tighthead prop and Will Fraser comes onto the bench for the 2.30pm clash.

Doncaster Knights

15 McColl, 14 Wright, 13 Briers, 12 Gidlow, 11 Williams, 10 Roberts, 9 Hallam, 1 Frazier, 2 Boden, 3 Cusack, 4 Kenworthy, 5 Craig, 6 Boyde, 7 Cochrane (Capt), 8 Jackson,

Replacements: 16 Doughty, 17 Thiede, 18 Corsar, 19 Parsons, 20 Walker, 21 Goss, 22 Flockhart

Bedford Blues

15. Edd Thrower, 14. Handre Schmidt, 13. James Pritchard (c), 12. Tom Bedford, 11. Ollie Dodge, 10. Myles Dorrian,  9. Darryl Veenendaal, 1. Laurence Ovensl, 2. Joe Clark, 3. Dan Seal, 4. Paul Tupai, 5. Sean Tomes, 6. Alex Rae, 7. Chris Goodman, 8. Jackson Wray

Replacements: 16. Dan Richmond, 17. Phil Boulton, 18. Gregor Gillanders, 19. Will Fraser, 20. Will Chudley, 21. Owen Farrell, 22. James Short.

Referee: Luke Pearce, Ass Refs: Steve Lee, Barry Dalby

England Under-19 Regional Academies beat Australia Schools

Posted on Dec 10, 2009 in Rugby News

England’s Under 19 Regional Academy opened a four-match touring programme by the Australian Schools by scoring four tries to two to claim a 27-12 victory at Lymm RFC this afternoon.

Coach John Fletcher was always confident that his side had the talent to test the visitors and they fulfilled all his expectations in holding the whip-hand from the moment full-back Jonathan Joseph (London Irish) crossed for the opening try and fly-half Jake Sharp (Saracens) converted.

Sharp claimed the second after 19 minutes and converted his own score for a 14-0 lead and while Australian centre Matthew Garland cut the deficit with a 29th minute try to raise the visitors’ morale and make the interval scoreline 14-5.

However, a third try from wingman Earl Collins (Worcester Warriors) on 40 minutes opened up the lead once again, although once again the tourists refused to concede the struggle and rallied with a try by flanker Jack de Guingand that scrum-half and captain Matthew Lucas converted to bring his side within a score at 19-12.

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