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Saracens rugby director Mark McCall has praised Manu Vunipola, and the young out-half is an option to replace suspended Owen Farrell for the big European tie in Leinster on Saturday.
England captain Farrell is absent for the Heineken Champions Cup winners after receiving a five-game penalty for a dangerous tackle against the Wasps earlier in the month.
It has put Sarries in the rear even further for the round of 16 clash at Aviva Stadium, which is a repeat of the 2019 final.
Farrell was instrumental in last year’s victory, but will have an observation front in Dublin and it means either Alex Goode or Vunipola, the cousin of England internationals Billy and Mako, will play at 10.
“We have two options,” McCall said. “Move Goodey up and play him as a fly-half and Elliott (Daly) as a winger or leave Manu there and keep Goodey where he is. We’ll make that decision later.”
It has been a tumultuous season for the Saracens as the club was heavily fined and scored 35 points in November for repeated wage cap violations before being automatically relegated from the Gallagher Premiership in January.
A rare bright spot has been the development of the fly half Vunipola, who starred in to help a young XV beat an equally inexperienced Exeter on Sunday.
He also caught the attention of his rugby director when he kicked the Saracens to victory at Gloucester in November, days after the double winners had been punished for the first time for various wage cap violations.
McCall added: “Manu has certainly shown throughout the year that every time we have given him a new challenge, he has met that challenge.
“One of the ones that comes to mind the most is the game at Kingsholm. It was a few days after the original decision and it was a very emotional occasion.
“As a young player, he handled that. It’s not the easiest place to play as a young fly-half and he handled himself very well that day. All season he has continued to gain these experiences.
“He’s played Racing 92 out, Munster out and was involved in the Ospreys game. He has accumulated a lot of experience this year and we have a lot of faith in Manu.”
The Saracens are aware of the “enormous challenge” they face in Dublin against a team that has not tasted defeat since these teams met in Newcastle in May 2019.
Leinster prepared for this encounter with a win over Ulster in the Guinness PRO14 final on Saturday, while the English champions have been able to rotate their squad in recent weeks with nothing to play for in the league.
This weekend could be Sarries’ last in Europe for a long time and McCall says the competition has been a lifesaver for them after they triumphed in must-see matches against Ospreys and Racing to qualify for the knockout stage.
“When we got the 35 point deduction in early November, we quickly made the decision to put all our eggs in the Premiership survival basket,” he said.
“That meant conceding to Europe for that season and we continued with that strategy, I guess, until the penultimate game, which was in Swansea.
“We actually heard Friday night, they told me it would be automatic (relegation), and we were playing the Ospreys the next day.
“We had left most of our seasoned players at home based on the original strategy and Rhys Carre was sent off in the first five minutes, so winning that day with a really young group and some really good senior players gave us the chance. life line we needed. ”
Follow the Champions Cup quarterfinals between Leinster and Saracens (3pm on Saturday) with our live blog on RTÉ Sport Online and the RTÉ News app or listen to the commentary live on RTÉ Radio 1
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