- Itoje and Willis won’t be allowed to play against Toulon under welfare regulations
- But Mark McCall’s gamble paid off as Itoje inspired a comeback at Leicester
England captain Maro Itoje was praised for an outstanding display of leadership as Saracens cashed in on a major selection gamble to keep their season alive.
Londoners’ director of rugby Mark McCall chose to start Itoje and Tom Willis at Leicester, knowing it meant forfeiting the opportunity, under player welfare regulations, to play them against Toulon this coming weekend in the Champions Cup.
The move looked set to backfire when Leicester led 22-17 and, with the raucous support of a 19,646 crowd at their back, powered into position to rule Sarries out of the Premiership play-off race.
But, inspired by Itoje’s shining example, the six-time champions turned the game on its head with two tries to silence Tiger town and catapult the visitors to within two points of the top four.
It was the perfect antidote to the disappointment of blowing a 12-point lead to lose to arch rivals Harlequins in their annual ‘showpiece’ fixture at Tottenham Hotspur a week ago.
McCall said: ‘To suffer what we suffered last weekend, and the consequences of it in an important game, and then to pull everyone together, to come up here and perform, that took good leadership.
Maro Itoje inspired Saracens to turn the game on its head against Leicester Tigers
The England captain’s shining example helped catapult them within two points of the top four
Mark McCall took a gamble playing Itoje and Tom Willis, as they will not be able to face Toulon
‘Maro was at the heart of that. In an ideal world you would not have to play him in back to back games [post England], but we took the decision halfway through the Six Nations and he was on board with it.’
This was Itoje’s 14th successive game without a break and it ended with him being named man of the match. He is favourite to be appointed British and Irish Lions captain but, before that, finally gets to put his feet up.
It Itoje’s leap which unsettled the Leicester lineout on 63 minutes, causing the overthrow which led to replacement hooker Theo Dan catching the ball at the back and plunging over the line for the winning try.
And, despite twice needing treatment for knocks, he was still going strong at the final whistle – before rejoicing in the character shown by his team mates in one of English rugby’s most hostile environments.
‘Today we felt like a team,’ he said proudly. ‘It wasn’t perfect, we made lots of mistakes, but one thing we had was loads of fight.’
As they were against Quins, Saracens were fast out of the traps and had two tries in the bag before Leicester knew what day it was. Jamie George struck first, with Juan Martin Gonzalez adding a second.
Tigers responded strongly to lead shortly after half-time through scores by Freddie Steward and two from Hanro Liebenberg.
But teen sensation Angus Hall marked his first premiership start with a spectacular flying finish to level the scores, before Dan was gifted the winner.
