Match Preview: Saracens aim to maintain winning start

The three-time champions have kicked off their campaign in impressive fashion, battling to a 30-26 home win over Edinburgh Rugby in the opening round, before holding on for a 28-20 success at Lyon.

Lyon, last season’s EPCR Challenge Cup winners, proved tricky customers at Matmut Stadium de Gerland and were similarly competitive in their entertaining 42-36 loss at Vodacom Bulls in the opening round.

However, their two defeats leave them 10th in Pool A on two points – and crucially outside the qualification places as it stands – while Saracens sit third on nine points.

Following their Round 2 tussle, Saracens have won twice in three Gallagher Premiership games, while Lyon have managed one in three in the TOP 14.

The game gets underway at 20:00 (UK & Irish time), with coverage coming from BT Sport, beIN SPORTS, SuperSport and FloRugby.

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Key quote:

Saracens flanker Ben Earl: “We’re fighting on two fronts – this is what we love doing. We’ve got amazing memories of both competitions as a club and we’ll go for silverware in both.”

Saracens

• Saracens have the lowest rate for ball retention in the ruck in the competition (90.5%).
• They have made the joint-fewest unforced handling errors (2).
• Nick Tompkins has made as many cover tackles an any other player (3).

Lyon

• Félix Lambey stole two lineouts in Round 2, the highest total for the round, and made the joint-most offloads for a forward (5).
• Lyon have made the most offloads in the competition so far (42), with Noa Nakaitaci notching a tournament-high six alone.
• They have kicked the ball 48 times, retaining it a joint tournament-high 11 times.