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Saracens star Alex Lozowski: We’ve given ourselves the best chance of defending our European title
Saracens' Alex Lozowski. Picture: PA - Credit: Archant
Alex Lozowski says Saracens have given themselves the best possible chance of retaining their Champions Cup trophy – and he feels the holders’ 15-match unbeaten run in Europe will give them a psychological edge in the last eight.
Sarries beat Toulon 10-3 at Allianz Park on Saturday, with winger Chris Ashton scoring the only try of the game against his next employers and securing home advantage in the quarter-finals.
Lozowski, who played at full-back for only the second time this season, told Ham&High Sport: “This is a tournament we want to win and we’ve given ourselves the best possible chance of progressing into the semi-finals and final, and that meant a home quarter-final, so we’re delighted with that.
“It gives us confidence that we’ve not been beaten in this competition. Other teams will be looking at it thinking ‘Sarries haven’t lost in this competition for a while, how are we going to beat these guys?’ It’s a nice thing to have and we’ll use it to our advantage.
“The defence was huge. To keep a team like Toulon down to three points is pretty good but our goal-line defence was unbelievable, and at the end when they looked like scoring we came up with some unbelievable plays to stop them.
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“When you’re on your goal-line you’re just concentrating on the next play and trying to make sure that, if you have a tackle to make, you make it - so it was great we managed to hold on.
“They’ve got some big ball carriers. They’re a good team full of brilliant players so we knew it would be important to double up on them - one low and one high. We had to soak up a lot of pressure but we had our moments in attack.
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“In hindsight, it could have been a high-scoring game if both teams had taken their chances, but I think on the balance of it we deserved to get the win.”
Toulon have also progressed to the quarter-finals after grabbing a losing bonus point and, while they face a difficult away tie against Clermont Auvergne, a third meeting with Saracens this season – in the final – remains a possibility.
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