Saracens sweating on fitness of Owen Farrell and George Kruis ahead of Leinster clash

Image: Owen Farrell is struggling with a quad injury

Owen Farrell and George Kruis are both injury concerns for Saracens' Champions Cup quarter-final against Leinster next Sunday.

The British and Irish Lions duo both sat out Saracens' 24-11 win over Harlequins on Saturday, with Alex Lozowski playing at No 10 and kicking 14 points in Farrell's absence.

Kruis was taken off after 71 minutes of England's 24-15 loss to Ireland, while Farrell played the entire match, but Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall confirmed both players picked up injuries.

Image: George Kruis is battling a back injury

"We hope he (Farrell) will be [fit] but there's no guarantee," McCall said. "He's got a quad injury, it's a muscle injury and you never really know with these things.

"George Kruis has got a back injury, it is what it is and we will deal with what we have to do next week."

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Image: Saracens and England No 8 Billy Vunipola fractured his arm in January

Billy Vunipola is also facing a "race against time" to be fit for the trip to Dublin as he continues his recovery from a fractured arm in January.

One player who will be fit to face Leinster is Maro Itoje, who scored a try in the win over Quins.

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McCall feels the England lock provided the perfect answer to recent suggestions by Sir Clive Woodward that Itoje looked "out on his feet" against Ireland.

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"Maro was brilliant and looked like he was full of energy, full of life and he was deservedly man of the match," he said.

"It will give him a lot of confidence going into next weekend, but his performance wasn't a surprise to us.

"Sometimes when people tell you that you look tired then you can feel tired, but Maro is not that kind of individual and I think he proved that."

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