Saracens and England are preparing for life without the Vunipola brothers – a double absence that would be felt by any team on Earth – but it does not have to be all bad. Marcelo Bosch, their Argentinian team-mate at Saracens, sees a chance for the two of them to spend some time away from the endless requirements of life as a rugby player at the highest level.
“You can see they’ve played a lot in the past few seasons,” he said. “They don’t stop or switch off a lot mentally, because from big games in the Premiership or Europe they go to England for the Six Nations, having come back from June and November. I imagine mentally it must be tough to be always up there emotionally and to stay fit. So this gives them an obligatory break.
“They are simple human beings, who want to enjoy playing, but I hope they can enjoy the chance to rest a bit. I know they will come back even stronger. Everyone at the club supports them so that they can just rest and come back whenever they can.”
Mark McCall, Saracens’ director of rugby, has confirmed that Mako will be seeing a specialist in four weeks’ time, once the swelling around the prop’s injured knee ligament has subsided. He will be out for more than those four weeks but Saracens do not expect to know until then for how much more. He picked up the injury last Sunday, in the Champions Cup fixture at Sale. England’s first Six Nations match, against France at Twickenham, is on 4 February, six weeks away. It seems inconceivable he will be ready for that. Whether he can return before the end of the championship will be assessed by his specialist, but that, too, must be considered unlikely.
It is a blow for Saracens, but their squad is deep. Bosch does not anticipate too much of a drop-off in quality, even if Saturday’s win over Newcastle was several degrees below the immaculate standards Sarries have set themselves in recent times.
“I don’t have to tell you how important they are to us,” said Bosch. “They are key too for England, who are nowadays one of the best teams in the world. Perhaps this can show the depth of our squad. Even though we will miss them there are other guys who have the opportunity to play. We have a very good squad. We’re not thinking now about the Premiership or the double. It’s still early doors but it’s been good so far.”
Saracens remain top of the table, albeit on points difference now from Wasps, who picked up a bonus point in their win over third-placed Bath. Sarries’ next assignment, at Leicester on New Year’s Day, ought to require more precision and energy than they mustered against the Falcons. But, if Saracens have lost two key personalities in the Vunipola boys, the revolving doors of professional rugby have redelivered them another in Chris Ashton, who came off the bench to score his first try of the season, a simple enough finish at the end of a game they had only just made safe.
Ashton was returning from his 13-week suspension for biting, a sentence he has served no doubt with acute frustration. “He’s been looking forward to playing for a while,” said Bosch. “I’m in the same changing room as he is every week, so I know how upset he was and how tough it’s been for him. He focused in training, trying to help prepare the team as well as possible. Today he had his chance to come back. And he got his try at the end, so I’m happy for him.”
Bosch himself scored the other, this one at the end of the first quarter, when he picked a fine line through Newcastle’s midfield. It was a rare defensive lapse from the Falcons, who are proving these days that they are not just a handful at Kingston Park. Away form has long been an issue for them, unsurprisingly given the distances they have to travel, and if they had flopped under the weight of a long injury list and a long journey on Christmas Eve we would surely not have condemned them.
As it was, they stuck to their task with commendable spirit and the odd flash of incision. But finishing must be immaculate against Saracens. Newcastle could not make tell the sieges they set up in Saracens’ territory, particularly in the first half, and so they left north London with nothing. At this generous time of year, they deserved more, but Saracens feel they have given up enough over the past month or so. Without their famous brothers for the foreseeable, they are in no mood for generosity.
