Saracens want to tame Tigers in cup campaign
Saracens' Alex Lewington (left) scores his side's fourth try during the Heineken European Champions Cup match against Lyon (pic: Steven Paston/PA) - Credit: PA Wire/PA Images
Saracens beat Lyon 29-10 in the Heineken Champions Cup last weekend
Saracens' Jackson Wray is tackled by Lyon (pic: Steven Paston/PA) - Credit: PA Wire/PA Images
Saracens begin their inaugural Premiership Rugby Cup campaign this Saturday when they play host to Leicester Tigers.
The new competition gets underway this weekend, with the north Londoners kicking things off when they welcome the Tigers to Allianz Park.
The revamped cup competition replaces the Anglo-Welsh Cup and sees all 12 Gallagher Premiership teams battle it out to win the trophy.
Mark McCall’s men have been placed in Pool Two in the initial group stage, along with Tigers, Sale Sharks and Worcester Warriors.
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Sarries will meet each of their three Pool Two rivals once over the course of the next three weekends.
The group stage then finishes in January with a ‘Derby Day’ round of fixtures against a side from another pool, with the Allianz Park outfit away to Harlequins.
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Much like in previous seasons of the Anglo-Welsh Cup, teams are expected to name youthful squads for their games in the Premiership Rugby Cup.
Regardless, Saracens will still want to maintain their record of winning every game they’ve played this season having triumphed in all eight matches in all competitions.
The latest success for the north Londoners came last Saturday as they beat Lyon 29-10 in the Heineken Champions Cup.
Tries from Maro Itoje, Sean Maitland, Brad Barritt and Alex Lewington saw Sarries collect all five points, while Owen Farrell added nine points from the tee.
The victory kept McCall’s men at the top of Pool Three, with two wins from two matches this season.
But forward Jackson Wray knows Saracens left plenty of room for improvement with regards to the display against Lyon.
“We weren’t quite at our best at times, but we battled on and to get the five points was massive,” Wray told the club website.
“There was an element of frustration with how we played, but we were really happy to get the five points.”
Whether Wray or any of Saracens’ point-scorers against Lyon feature in the Premiership Rugby Cup this weekend looks doubtful.
But even without some of their leading lights, McCall will hope his team have enough about them to start their Premiership Rugby Cup campaign by taming Tigers.
