Owen Farrell must captain England in South Africa, says Mark McCall

Owen Farrell is certain to be selected for England’s tour of South Africa, according to his Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall, who believes his player would make an “ideal” captain in the injury-enforced absence of Dylan Hartley.

McCall is also optimistic that Billy Vunipola, the England No 8, will travel to South Africa, although he may be forced to wait another week to make his eagerly-anticipated return for Saracens following an arm injury that has sidelined him since January.

Hartley, who has been England captain during the two-year tenure of Eddie Jones, was ruled out of the tour on Monday after Northampton confirmed the hooker would not play again this season as he recovers from a concussion injury.

READ MORE: Thorman slams dismal Giants display

READ MORE: Inspired Josh Charnley steals show for Warrington

READ MORE: Joseph likely to miss England’s tour of South Africa

Jones had indicated at the end of the Six Nations that he was considering resting some of England’s Lions players for the tour in order to give them a chance to recover from the exacting demands of the past 12 months.

However, McCall said he expected both Farrell and Hartley’s deputy, Jamie George, the Lions hooker, to travel as part of the squad for the three-Test tour of South Africa, which Jones will name next month.

McCall believes that Farrell, who captained England in the Six Nations defeat by France in Paris when Hartley was ruled out with a calf injury, is the right man to lead the tour.

“He will be a brilliant captain,” said McCall. “He is ready to do that job and has the respect of everybody. He has a fantastic rugby mind but he is also brilliant at getting the best out of his team-mates. Both of things combined make him an ideal captain.

“It is up to England whether he goes but I am certain he will go. I haven’t heard anything to the contrary and I am sure he wants to go as well.

“I thought he [Jones] was very good during the autumn internationals. He rested Maro and he rested Owen a lot so I am sure he doesn’t want to rest Owen too much because he only played in one Test in November.

“He [George] has obviously been very patient, as he was here for a long period of time behind Schalk Brits and John Smit and hopefully he gets his chance in South Africa.”

Analysis of England’s fifth-place finish in the Six Nation after three successive defeats centred on the impact of the workload of the senior players this season in the wake of the Lions series against New Zealand last July.

McCall insisted, however, that his players had been managed properly both in terms of game workload and training.

“We have got a brilliant performance team here who don’t just look at their match loads, which is important – and none of the international players are anywhere near the top limits – but also their training loads,” added McCall.

“We have a performance team that look after the players brilliantly during the other six days and they look after them the right way, which is why I can say the players are feeling fresh, feeling good and looking forward to the rest of the season.”

Vunipola is almost certain not to start against London Irish at the Madejski Stadium on Sunday but could feature from the bench.