Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall has no fear about Manu Vunipola replacing Owen Farrell at fly-half for Saturday’s Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final at Leinster.
England captain Farrell is suspended for the match after being issued with a five-match ban for a dangerous tackle against Wasps earlier this month.
It means Saracens will have to start either full-back Alex Goode or Vunipola, the cousin of England internationals Billy and Mako, at fly-half.
Goode is currently favourite to get the nod, but McCall has faith in the 20-year-old Vunipola too.
“Manu has certainly shown all year any time we’ve given him a new challenge, he has stood up to that challenge,” he said.
“He has played Racing 92 away, Munster away and he was involved in the Ospreys game. He has accumulated a lot of experience this year and we have a lot of faith in Manu. All season he has continued to gain these experiences.
“We have two choices. To move Goodey up and play him at fly-half and Elliott [Daly] to full-back or stick Manu in there and keep Goodey where he is. We will make that decision later on.”
