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Saracens suffer Maro Itoje injury blow and set Billy Vunipola return date

Maro Itoje (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Saracens have suffered a blow with the news that their England lock Maro Itoje will be absent for their busy Christmas schedule.

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Itoje is expected to be out “for a number of weeks” after suffering a knee injury.

The 24-year-old took a knock whilst on international duty with England and scans have revealed a chip in his patella.

Itoje’s return date has not been set, but it’s a busy period of rugby for Sarries- after their Champions Cup double header with Cardiff they face a top-of-the-table clash with Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park on December 22nd, with Worcester Warriors at Allianz Park a week later. They then play Sale Sharks on January 4th at the AJ Bell.

There is better news on prop Mako Vunipola, he has recovered from his calf strain and will start for Saracens against Cardiff Blues on Sunday as Sarries look to make it three wins from three in Pool 3.

Director of Rugby Mark McCall confirmed that another of his locks, George Kruis, is a week away from being back in contention after his calf injury. Their luckless number 8 Billy Vunipola (arm) is estimated to back for Rounds 11-12 of the Gallagher Premiership, which would be the games against either Worcester or Sale.

Vunipola broke his right arm against the Ospreys in January and suffered the same injury again on England’s summer tour to South Africa and had a plate inserted to try and solve the problem. He then broke his left in October against the Glasgow Warriors.

Liam Williams (hamstring), David Strettle (foot), Hisa Sasagi (groin), Hayden Thompson-Stringer (hamstring) and Duncan Taylor (knee) are the club’s other injury absentees.

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Saracens team to face Cardiff Blues at Allianz Park in the Heineken Champions Cup on Sunday 9th December (KO 13H00):

15 Alex Goode
14 Sean Maitland
13 Alex Lozowski
12 Brad Barritt ©
11 Alex Lewington
10 Owen Farrell
9 Richard Wigglesworth

1 Mako Vunipola
2 Jamie George
3 Vincent Koch
4 Nick Isiekwe
5 Will Skelton
6 Mike Rhodes
7 Schalk Burger
8 Jackson Wray

Replacements:
16 Tom Woolstencroft
17 Richard Barrington
18 Christian Judge
19 Dom Day
20 Calum Clark
21 Ben Earl
22 Ben Spencer
23 Nick Tompkins

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AM 41 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

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