Investec Champions Cup: European CEO not worried about the Saracens that rest the stars of England

The head of European rugby rejected the concerns for the Saracens who supported a series of England stars for their tie for the Champions Cup in Tolone.

Maro Itje, Jamie George, Ben Earl, Tom Willis and Elliot Daly I will all miss the trip to the south of France Since the Saracens give priority to their pushing of Premiership playoffs.

But the European CEO of Rugby of the Professional Club Jacques Raynaud insists that the Champions Cup remains the peak for players and coaches.

“We have one or two cases by season (of weakened teams), but it is more the exception, we shouldn’t overdo it,” Raynaud said to the BBC Sport.

“We are certainly respecting our promise to have the best players in the best games.”

Side South African last season The bulls sent a weakened team to Northampton For their quarter of the final, while first this campaign a very changed team of Stormers was well beaten by the Arleqini in the pool phase. However, Raynaud says that these are exceptions that demonstrate the rule.

“Toulouse traveled (in South Africa in January) with their best team to play sharks. And this was a kind of French remake against South Africa,” explained Raynaud.

“You saw Northampton go down to South Africa and win (against Bulls in December) and take their best team.”

Under the guidelines for the welfare of rugby players in England, the players who participated during the six nations should spend a weekend in one of the three weekends after the championship.

With the boss of Sarries Mark McCall who chooses to choose his usual customers in England for the premiership matches against Harlequins and off to Leicester, he says he would now be “not very wise not to rest” against Toulon.

The England Skipper Itaje, for example, played 80 minutes in 14 successive games for the club and the country.

“There are some specifications due to accidents, due to the well -being of the players, due to rest periods, which we fully respect,” added Raynaud.

“But overall, when you listen to the coaches, when you listen to the teams, they use these weekends (Champions Cup) to shine at the best level.

“We are seeing the teams that want to go deep in Europe more and more; this is the absolute measurement stick for them, this is what the players want, it is here that the coaches want to shine and this is where the club brand is exposed to a global level.

“They are all chasing the star, everyone wants to add a star – or have a star – and this is the beauty of the tournament.”