van Zyl to skipper Saracens for first time on Sunday against Chiefs

October 04, 2024
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Ultimate Rugby

Ivan van Zyl, who will captain Saracens Men on Sunday for the first time in the Gallagher Premiership says the squad want to keep building on their promising start to the league campaign.

The Men in Black host Exeter Chiefs in front of the TNT cameras and sit top of the table after bonus point wins over Gloucester and Sale in the opening two rounds.

Director of Rugby Mark McCall has made three changes to the starting line-up from the side that beat Sale, with all of the alterations coming up front.

Jamie George comes in to start his first match of the season at hooker, and he has Rhys Carre and Marco Riccioni for company in the front-row.

Nick Isiekwe starts in the second-row with Hugh Tizard, replacing Maro Itoje who has not recovered from a minor knee injury sustained in the win over Sale.

Theo McFarland gets the nod at blindside flanker and will be looking to continue his form from the summer internationals with Samoa, and he will be alongside Ben Earl and in-form Tom Willis at the base of the scrum.

The back-line is unchanged, with captain van Zyl and Fergus Burke looking to make more strides forward after an encouraging start to their half-back partnership.

Nick Tompkins and Alex Lozowski, who was Player of the Match against Sale continue in the midfield, with Rotimi Segun, Tobias Elliott and Elliot Daly again in the back-three.

On the bench there is a huge boost as Juan Martin Gonzalez returns from a highly successful Rugby Championship campaign with Argentina, and Eroni Mawi will also make his first appearance of the season after winning the Pacific Nations Cup with Fiji.

Captain van Zyl is expecting another tough challenge on Sunday.

“It has been a great start so far but we want to keep building with so many big games coming up. The performances against Gloucester and Sale were different in many ways but the way that we dug in is really pleasing, and there is already a great vibe throughout the training ground.

Exeter is another tough test. We know they will be looking for a response after their first two games so we can expect a backlash.”

Saracens Men team to play Exeter Chiefs:

1 Rhys Carre

2 Jamie George

3 Marco Riccioni

4 Nick Isiekwe

5 Hugh Tizard

6 Theo McFarland

7 Ben Earl

8 Tom Willis

9 Ivan van Zyl (c)

10 Fergus Burke