Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall has confirmed the matchday 23 squad for the Trailfinders Challenge Cup against Ealing.
Billy Vunipola will be the only England international to feature in the game with Maro Itoje, Owen Farrell, Elliot Daly, Jamie George and Mako Vunipola rested for the encounter.
Vunipola will be part of the back-row along with Janco Venter and Andy Christie while Jon Kpoku and Ollie Stonham are chosen at lock. The matchday squad also featues World Cup winning South Africa international Vincent Koch, USA’s Will Hooley, Wales’ Aled Davies and Scotland’s Duncan Taylor.
“The England internationals are on individualised pre-season programmes to help prepare them for the Six Nations,” McCall said.
“It’s so that they hit the ground running when it comes to the Scotland match. I don’t think there’s a great need for most of them to play games.
“Billy’s a little bit different. He always has been. In his case, we all agreed that he’s better with game time. He gets a lot out of playing, so that is why he’s playing.”
Saracens starting XV: 15. Elliott Obatoyinbo, 14 Ben Harris, 13 Dom Morris, 12 Duncan Taylor, 11 Rotimi Segun, 10 Will Hooley, 9 Aled Davies, 1 Eroni Mawi, 2 Tom Woolstencroft, 3 Vincent Koch, 4 Jon Kpoku, 5 Ollie Stonham, 6 Janco Venter, 7 Andy Christie, 8 Billy Vunipola
Reserves: 16 Kapeli Pifeleti, 17 Sam Crean, 18 Josh Ibuanokpe, Llewelyn Jones, 19 Llewelyn Jones, 20 Callum Hunter-Hill, 21 Tom Whiteley, 22 Harry Sloan, 23 Charlie Watson
