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Three changes for Saracens, including a recall for Billy Vunipola

Saracens' Billy Vunipola (Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images)

Billy Vunipola will start his first match for Saracens since early April after Mark McCall opted to make three changes to the London club’s XV for Friday’s Gallagher Premiership semi-final at Northampton following their May 18 home loss to Sale.

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The Montpellier-bound No8 hasn’t been in the starting team since the April 6 Investec Champions Cup hammering at Bordeaux, instead appearing off the bench in the league matches against Gloucester, Bath, Bristol and the Sharks.

Vunipola was arrested and fined while in Spain on a team bonding session following their win at The Rec, and he remained a sub for the following matches at Ashton Gate and StoneX Stadium.

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However, Saracens’ poor showing in their 10-20 loss to Sale cost them a home semi-final and McCall has reacted by altering three of his pack.

Aside from Vunipola taking over from the benched Willis at No8, Nick Isiekwe is also upgraded from the bench to start at lock at the expense of Hugh Tizard.

Fixture
Gallagher Premiership
Northampton
22 - 20
Full-time
Saracens
All Stats and Data

The final alteration sees Marco Riccioni restored as the starting tighthead in Christian Judge’s absence. Ollie Hoskins will provide the back-up for that role in a six/two forwards/backs bench split where Alex Lozowski is named as 23rd man with Alex Goode missing for the rest of the season.

A statement read: “Director of rugby Mark McCall has named a side packed with experience, featuring 20 internationals in the matchday squad as Saracens look to stride towards what could be a seventh Premiership title.

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“Mako Vunipola, Jamie George and Marco Riccioni start in the front row and will be crucial at scrum time, with Maro Itoje and Nick Isiekwe combining in a dynamic second row. Juan Martin Gonzalez, Ben Earl and Billy Vunipola will be at the base of the scrum and will look to give the backs some much-needed front-foot ball under the floodlights.

“Ivan van Zyl and captain Farrell start as half-backs, with Nick Tompkins and Lucio Cinti continuing in the midfield. The back-three of Tom Parton, Alex Lewington and Elliot Daly will need to be clinical against the formidable Saints defence.

“On the bench, the likes of Theo Dan, Theo McFarland and Tom Willis will look to stamp their authority on the game, and there is a huge injury boost as Alex Lozowski returns to the squad for the first time since November.

“Unfortunately, Rotimi Segun, Sean Maitland and Alex Goode have all been ruled out of the semi-final with season-ending injuries.”

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SARACENS (vs Northampton): 15. Elliot Daly; 14. Alex Lewington, 13. Lucio Cinti, 12. Nick Tompkins, 11. Tom Parton; 10. Owen Farrell (capt), 9. Ivan van Zyl; 1. Mako Vunipola, 2. Jamie George, 3. Marco Riccioni, 4. Maro Itoje, 5. Nick Isiekwe, 6. Juan Martin Gonzalez, 7. Ben Earl, 8. Billy Vunipola. Reps: 16. Theo Dan, 17. Eroni Mawi, 18. Ollie Hoskins, 19. Hugh Tizard, 20. Theo McFarland, 21. Tom Willis, 22. Aled Davies, 23. Alex Lozowski.

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JW 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson explains the new halves pairing for the All Blacks ahead of France

More indecision and excuses from Razor.


You've given a spot at 6 to Finau whom you haven't even had the courage to use off the bench in the last two games. Now the young enforcer is going into a big much with no rugby, we should expect a similar result to how Aumua struggled to impact a game after he'd hardly been given any chances of the bench either.


Weve now dropped a back three player who also wasn't even given any game time off the bench for someone coming in cold when they really need to have been playing constantly to perform at their best. There are just so many better pictures that should have been present rather than this mickey mouse selection.


I really hope Finau can overcome this, it won't be the first time he's had to. How is the bench even made up? Could you not just have included these changes in the article as well? I actually like BB coming back in, it highlights how courageous he is after sitting out through another concussion that could just as easily sent him back into months of symptoms again.


Dmac was also off his game last week, as was Ratima, with the poor platform Razor and his team have been setting the players up with. He needs to freedom to clear his mind from the clutter that saw him make so many bad decisions last week. It will still probably be a net loss for the team performance not having him on from the start but it should be better for them in the long run if he's allowed to just come on late and play his game trying to claw things back for the team.


With Roigard starting that might prove an outlet for the team to actually get on top first however. Along with Ardie busting a gut in his new role and emptying the tank by halftime, and being replaced by another new star, might mean that Dmac is just icing on the cake at the end.

13 Go to comments
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Flankly 1 hour ago
Jake White: If I was England coach, I’d have been livid

I am not an England fan, but still very disappointed at what Borthwick is serving up. Regardless of winning or losing, they should be executing the basics at a world class level. That was the reason they replaced Eddie with Steve. After two years England has not built the solid foundations that the RFU were presumably after. Its hard to see it as anything other than a coaching problem.


Having said that I really hope that Rassie has got his team fired up for the game. The Boks at maximum intensity and with no crises (eg red cards) would be expected to win this game. But it does not take much reduction in pressure for Bok teams to lose. The Boks lose when complacency sets in.


On Felix Jones, my guess is that they can't agree on a non-compete so they kept him on payroll for the duration of the Nov tests. The risk was that he would be hired by Rassie or Razor prior to the tests.


As relates to law tweaking, it feels like WR are more comfortable discussing changes in laws than insisting on implementation. For my money the biggest thing they could do is to be strict and consistent in officiating ruck behavior. In every game we see flopping, lazy lying, clearing of unbound players, making plays while off your feet, delays in placing the ball, side entry, offside line infringements, and similar nonsense. It's really really bad, and the WR attitude seems to be that we should turn a blind eye in pursuit of "flowing rugby". In truth it's just boring, because it randomizes the outcome.

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