England captain Owen Farrell faces an anxious wait to find if he’s cited for a shoulder-led excessive problem throughout Saracens’ 19-16 Gallagher Premiership victory over Gloucester.
The Saracens fly-half’s hit on Gloucester alternative Jack Clement got here close to the tip of an intense encounter at Kingsholm, earlier than he landed a long-range drop-goal with the sport’s last kick to edge his staff residence.
He escaped sanction on the pitch, with play carrying on, however citing commissioner James Hall might take a unique view over the following 24-48 hours after Farrell’s proper shoulder made contact with Clement’s chin.
England kick off their Guinness Six Nations marketing campaign in opposition to Scotland on February 4, and Farrell, whose sort out approach has typically been questioned prior to now, might run a threat of lacking that match if he’s cited and suspended.
He was banned for 5 video games in 2020 following a excessive sort out on Wasps participant Charlie Atkinson.
England boss Steve Borthwick was amongst a 13,400 crowd, and the brand new head coach will even be preserving a eager eye on any developments.
Asked in regards to the incident, Saracens rugby director Mark McCall mentioned: “I was pitch-side for the last three or four minutes, so I haven’t seen it yet.
“I have heard there is a potential high tackle that I will have to look at.”
Gloucester head coach George Skivington added: “It is really tricky to comment on it. I don’t want to end up in a judiciary myself, so I have to keep shtum.
“I will just say that consistency across games will be good.”
Farrell had endured a depressing night time together with his goalkicking, lacking 4 photographs at purpose from six makes an attempt, together with three from round Gloucester’s 22-metre line.
But he got here up trumps when it mattered as Saracens moved 14 factors clear on the Premiership summit.
McCall mentioned: “It is a tough place to come. We competed and scrapped for everything throughout the match.
“We showed a lot of resilience at key times. There were some great bits of defence and some great interventions by individuals.
“I can’t remember the last time Owen dropped a goal for us. It was a tough game, and we came out the right side of it.”
Farrell booted two penalties, whereas wing Max Malins and scrum-half Ivan van Zyl scored tries, but his reverse quantity Santiago Carreras loved an 80 per cent success price, touchdown three penalties and a conversion of wing Ollie Thorley’s first-half attempt.
Gloucester stay within the top-four after struggling a last-gasp defeat in opposition to Saracens for the second time this season, having misplaced 41-39 in opposition to the title favourites in September when Farrell kicked a successful conversion.
Skivington added: “I thought the boys played really well. I thought the kicking game and pressure game was outstanding, and we put ourselves in a position to win the game.
“We’ve tried to push our game on a bit. The players’ application was outstanding.
“It was a good ding-dong. If we had nicked it at the end, it would have been a fair outcome as much as them nicking it. A draw would probably have been a fair outcome.”
