A remarkable intervention from the Rugby Football Union has cleared Steve Borthwick to pick the suspended Owen Farrell in his Six Nations squad on Monday without jeopardising his availability for England’s championship opener against Scotland.
With the uncertainty that Farrell’s ban would be updated to include the Scotland fixture on 4 February if selected, the RFU has written to Saracens to confirm he is available for a match that he cannot play in due to his suspension.
Such a move leaves the RFU open to accusations of cynically exploiting a loophole but ensures Farrell’s ban for a high tackle at Gloucester eight days ago expires before the Calcutta Cup, providing Borthwick with more clarity in a messy situation.
In worse news for Borthwick, Henry Slade was sent off for a high tackle in Exeter’s Champions Cup defeat by the Bulls on Saturday and could miss the start of England’s Six Nations campaign through suspension.
Farrell was given a three-match suspension on Tuesday – provided he attends tackle school – but the disciplinary panel meted out his punishment in club matches, saying it would not consider England fixtures because Borthwick had not selected his squad.
The third of those club matches is Saracens’ fixture against Bristol on 28 January but England will have started their Six Nations preparations at the beginning of that week and players selected do not play for their clubs on the weekend in question.
That raised the prospect of Farrell’s ban being altered to no longer include the Bristol fixture and instead extend to the Scotland match on 4 February if he were called up. The disciplinary panel even hinted at that possibility, referencing the potential for a “change of circumstances” in its written judgment.
As a result, the RFU has taken the step of writing to Saracens to confirm Farrell is available for their Bristol fixture, which is in effect doublespeak because he is not available at all due to his suspension. The RFU is essentially claiming that because Farrell could be released to play against Bristol were he not suspended, that he still would be.
Mark McCall believes Elliot Daly has done more than enough to make Steve Borthwick’s England squad after a player-of-the-match performance in Saracens’ 48-28 win over Lyon.
Daly was at his best as Saracens sealed qualification for the last 16 of the Champions Cup with a game to spare, scoring a hat-trick in just seven minutes and 20 seconds in the first half.
Other tries from Alex Lozowski, Marco Riccioni, Andy Christie and Ben Earl saw Saracens to an impressive victory over last year’s European Challenge Cup champions.
Saracens head to Edinburgh looking to continue their unbeaten European streak next week, but sealing qualification a week early is not something to take for granted and McCall was delighted with his side’s efforts.
He said: “We are happy with that. If you had told us before we would score 48 points and get another 20-point win playing the way we did in the first half then we would have taken that.
“Elliot had an outstanding game, I think everyone knows he has been outstanding all season, he was playing well before tonight and he showed all his qualities again tonight ... I would be very surprised if he is not in Steve’s squad on Monday.”
Meanwhile, Northampton’s director of rugby, Phil Dowson, conceded that a “poor” first-half display left them with too much to do as Saints went down 27-23 to 14-man Munster in their encounter at Thomond Park.
The Saints, for whom Courtney Lawes made a first start since September, are without a win and bottom of Pool B after failing to take advantage of the Munster flanker Jack O’Donoghue’s 22nd-minute red card for a high tackle on David Ribbans.
Trailing 24-0 at half-time, Fin Smith converted tries from Tommy Freeman and James Ramm and kicked three penalties, but time ran out on their comeback bid as Munster hung on.
“We played some really good rugby in the second half and I was really pleased with the group. First half we were poor, discipline was poor again and we conceded far too many opportunities,” said Dowson.
“When they had those opportunities we conceded far too easily. We conceded two tries from four phases and that’s just not good enough."
Player of the match Gavin Coombes crossed twice, either side of an O’Donoghue effort, and a 75th-minute penalty from replacement Jack Crowley made it back-to-back wins for the Irish province over Saints.
Jaden Hendrikse and Marnus Potgieter each scored a pair of tries as the Sharks booked their place in the round of 16 with a 32-3 win over Bordeaux-Begles. It was a third win out of three for the South African franchise in their debut European rugby campaign, with Bordeaux not helping themselves after picking up four yellow cards.
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The upshot is that Borthwick has been cleared to select Farrell, which he will surely now do – quite possibly as captain – and the Saracens playmaker can take a full part in England’s Calcutta Cup preparations.
Meanwhile, Slade – who was captaining Exeter in their 39-28 defeat in Pretoria – was shown a red card despite appearing to make contact with Kurt-Lee Arendse’s shoulder first. He can have some optimism that the decision will be overturned but he and Borthwick face an anxious wait nonetheless.
