Massive blow for England's Six Nations campaign
REACTION: Jamie George limped off with a hamstring problem late in Saracens’ 24-32 Champions Cup defeat against Castres to compound a miserable week for the England hooker.
Replaced as England captain by club teammate Maro Itoje when Steve Borthwick named his Six Nations squad on Tuesday, he then suffered an injury that could place his involvement against Ireland on February 1 in doubt.
George came on for two-try front row Theo Dan in the 55th minute but was forced off in the closing stages with Saracens unable to indicate the extent of the damage.
“Jamie has hurt his hamstring. We’re not quite sure how serious that hamstring is at the moment,” director of rugby Mark McCall said.
George’s late withdrawal and a serious knee injury sustained by Toby Knight added to a frustrating afternoon in north London, where Castres finally won after 21 successive away defeats in the Champions Cup.
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Both teams had already qualified for the round of 16 and were battling for home advantage – a reward that goes to the Top 14’s eighth-placed club after they showed greater fight and flair to close out a deserved win.
And they achieved the upset despite naming entirely new starting XV following their 49-10 demolition of the Bulls last weekend and in defiance of their reputation as flaky travellers.
“It was a really poor performance by us. Castres thoroughly deserved to win the game and we got what we deserved as well, which is a hard thing to say,” McCall said.
“Our mentality for some reason wasn’t quite right and that’s on me and the coaches. It was a really disappointing day. Castres definitely outenthused us. They were really up for the game.
“We had plenty of the ball but we were poor with it and they defended against us comfortably. Then they struck when the opportunities arose for them. It was such a disappointing day.
“All 15 of the players they brought in had played in the last five weeks, just not together.
“It wasn’t a pack of kids, they were proper rugby players and we did try to communicate that to the team. We just weren’t quite there mentally.”
Castres finish second in Pool Three – Saracens have to settle for fourth – and their forwards coach Karena Whiongi acclaimed a special win.
“There’s a great atmosphere in the changing room. The boys put in an awesome performance,” he said.
“This was about character. We got up hard on the line and it turned out well for us. We forced a lot of handling errors. We got the ball back, got it our wide and kept up the pressure on them. That’s what the gameplan was. Great!
“This will give us great confidence. To win here is one out of a million. Let’s see how the rest of the championship goes.”
