McCall expecting huge challenge in Lyon

Director of Rugby Mark McCall has described Saturday’s trip to Lyon as a ‘huge challenge’ ahead of Round Two of the Heineken Champions Cup.

The Men in Black head to the Matmut Stadium for their next instalment of European action, and they take on the Challenge Cup Champions from last season in a crucial Pool A match.

“Lyon are doing well in the Top 14. They’re a much improved team from four or five years ago so the scale of the challenge is a big one.

Their last home game against Toulouse they won comfortably and it’s always tough to play a big French team in their own backyard.

We’ve been really impressed with them, they have top quality players throughout their team and are very well organised.” Said McCall.

The Round One win over Edinburgh might not have seen Sarries at their best, but the boss believes there is more to come from his side this Saturday.

“When you’re not playing as well as you want to but find a way to win it’s a good habit. We were disappointed with how we played for much of the game against Edinburgh but looking at it we had six players coming back from international duty and the others hadn’t played for a month, so hopefully we can be a lot better this week.”

Lyon brings back fond memories for Sarries supporters after their European triumph in 2016, and McCall says the squad are excited to make the trip.

“It’s a great city. We’ve been over there a few times and we’re looking forward to going there again on Saturday. It’s a lovely break from the Premiership to take on teams that you don’t normally play against.”

Finally, he provided an update on injuries with a number of players returning to action in the near future.

“We silently had a lot of injuries around the October/November period. Max Malins is available for this weekend, Duncan Taylor is back on his feet, Roti Segun isn’t far away and Nick Isiekwe is getting closer so we’re looking healthy at the moment.”