Racing 92 v Saracens - Preview

Owen Farrell says Saracens' preparation for Saturday's European Champions Cup final in Lyon has been "spot on".

Saracens were beaten 23-6 by a Jonny Wilkinson-inspired Toulon team in their last European final two years ago.

But the Aviva Premiership title holders face Racing 92 hoping to become the first team in history to win all nine games in a European campaign.

"We have done our preparation now, and we've just got to relax," said England fly-half Farrell.

"Since two years ago when we played in that last final, we've grown a lot as a team."

Wasps were the last English European title holders in 2007, while they also achieved a domestic and European double three years earlier, which are both feats that Saracens could match during the next fortnight.

"It is not about what's happened for the rest of this year, or what's after Saturday. It is about Saturday," added Farrell, one of eight remaining players who started the 2014 loss.

The 24-year-old is likely to line up opposite New Zealand international Dan Carter, but says the final will not be about "fly-half versus fly-half".

"There is no doubt he is a brilliant player," Farrell added. "I am sure that any fly-half would look up to him. It's about the collective effort from both teams, and who comes out on top there."

All Black great Carter is aiming to cap a "special 12 months" by adding the Champions Cup to October's World Cup victory.

Carter spearheaded New Zealand's march to back-to-back Webb Ellis trophies, and the 34-year-old says this season has been one of the best of his illustrious career.

"It's right up there," he said. "It's been a pretty special 12-14 months with certain things that I have achieved."

The international world-record points scorer added: "I'm just lucky to be a part of a couple of pretty special teams, obviously with the All Blacks and what they achieved, and now to be involved in another very special team in Racing.

"So I just find myself pretty lucky to play alongside some great players and in some great teams."

Carter says playing in a European final was one of his motivations for moving to France, and believes the magnitude of the game rivals any other he has played in.

"It's obviously the pinnacle of European rugby, and a big part of the reason why I wanted to come here and play," he said.

"To reach this stage is a highly proud moment for me, and more importantly this team.

"But we haven't won anything yet and we are up against a very good Saracens side. We've done well to get here but the hard work starts now."

Racing 92

B Dulin; J Rokocoko, J Goosen, A Dumoulin, J Imhoff; D Carter, M Machenaud; E Ben Arous, D Szarzewski (capt), B Tameifuna, L Charteris, F Van der Merwe, W Lauret, B Le Roux, C Masoe.

Replacements: V Lacombe, K Vartanov, L Ducalon, M Carizza, A Claassen, M Phillips, R Tales, H Chavancy.

Saracens

A Goode; C Ashton, D Taylor, B Barritt (capt), C Wyles; O Farrell, R Wigglesworth; M Vunipola, S Brits, P du Plessis, M Itoje, G Kruis, M Rhodes, W Fraser, B Vunipola.

Replacements: J George, R Barrington, J Figallo, J Hamilton, J Wray, B Spencer, C Hodgson, M Bosch.

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)

Assistant referees: George Clancy (Ireland) and Leighton Hodges (Wales).

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Dan is the BBC SPOTY Man

BBC Sport

Dan Carter has been named BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year for 2015.

Carter beat Usain Bolt, Novak Djokovic, Katie Ledecky, Jordan Spieth and Serena Williams to the award that was decided by public vote for the first time.

The Racing 92 fly-half was crowned World Rugby player of the year after helping New Zealand retain the World Cup in October.

"I'm thrilled to have been voted BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year by the UK public," Carter said.

"It's been an incredible year for me on British soil and the support has been phenomenal.

"It was an incredibly competitive shortlist and I'm honoured to have been recognised alongside these great sportsmen and women from around the world."

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Scarlets v Racing Metro 92 - Preview

Wales scrum-halves past and present face each other when Racing 92 look to cement their place in the Champions Cup knock-out stages against Scarlets.

Gareth Davies was selected ahead of Racing's Mike Phillips for the World Cup, with Phillips subsequently retiring from international rugby.

A win will seal top spot in Pool Three for Racing with a game left.

World Cup winner Dan Carter will play at centre for the French side, with Remi Tales starting at fly-half.

Scarlets have lost all four of their pool matches, including a 29-12 defeat at home to Racing in November.

The injury-hit Welsh region have 14 players unavailable, including seven internationals.

But flanker Rory Pitman is back after nearly four months on the sidelines with a torn bicep, and George Earle returns in the second row after recovering from a calf muscle injury.

Head coach Wayne Pivac says his team - top of the Pro12 table - will benefit from the experience of playing against the Parisian club.

"Racing are a class side and they're playing very well at the moment," he said.

"You're up against some of the great players in the world. It's a great challenge for us and that's the way we're approaching it."

Racing 92

Brice Dulin; Louis Dupichot, Dan Carter, Casey Laulala, Juan Imhoff; Remi Tales, Mike Phillips; Eddy Ben Arous, Dimitri Szarzewski (capt), Ben Tameifuna, Luke Charteris, Manuel Carizza, Yannick Nyanga, Bernard Le Roux, Antonie Claassen.

Replacements: Camille Chat, Julien Brugnaut, Martin Castrogiovanni, Thibault Dubarry, Chris Masoe, Maxime Machenaud, Henry Chavancy, Johannes Goosen

Scarlets

Michael Collins; Steffan Evans, Regan King, Hadleigh Parkes, DTH van der Merwe; Steven Shingler, Gareth Davies; Phil John, Ken Owens (capt), Samson Lee, George Earle, Maselino Paulino, Rory Pitman, Aaron Shingler, Morgan Allen

Replacements: Kirby Myhill, Wyn Jones, Rhodri Jones, Tom Price, Tom Phillips, Rhodri Williams, Daniel Jones, Steffan Hughes

Referee: Matthew Carley (England)

Touch judges: Ian Tempest (England), Wayne Falla (England)

TMO: David Grashoff (England)

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All Blacks Maintain Record

Getty Images

New Zealand avenged last year's defeat at Twickenham but were given a mighty fright by England before emerging from a titanic struggle with a 30-22 victory, their 13th in an unbeaten 2013.

England trailed 17-3 early in the game, battled back to lead 22-20 after a hour but succumbed to a ferocious finish from the All Blacks.

New Zealand went ahead early through tries from the outstanding Kieran Read and Julian Savea, but England kept in touch through a scrappy try from Joe Launchbury and the relentlessly accurate boot of Owen Farrell.

It was Farrell's sixth kick from six which edged England ahead briefly but Savea's second try and a conversion and penalty from Aaron Cruden - on as a replacement for the injured Dan Carter - kept New Zealand's unbeaten year intact.

Carter joined the ranks of rugby's Test centurions, but his afternoon lasted just 26 minutes until injury ended his involvement.

The fifth All Black to reach 100 caps contributed a penalty and two conversions before making way for Cruden.

England started brightly but the home fans were stunned into silence when their line was breached after just 105 seconds.

New Zealand broke down the left wing through Read and some naive defending saw the number eight suck in Chris Ashton, Tom Wood and Billy Vunipola.

Somehow Read slipped a pass out to the lurking Savea and the wing had the simplest of run-ins, with Carter converting.

A penalty from Farrell got England on the board and Ben Foden thought he had scored a try after intercepting and running two thirds of the pitch, but referee Craig Joubert had spotted offside. To rub salt into Foden's wound, Carter kicked the penalty.

By the 18th minute New Zealand had surged 17-3 ahead with their second try started when lock Brodie Retallick sent prop Owen Franks racing through a gap.

The ball was recycled quickly and fed right where Foden was outnumbered and Read easily loped over. Carter added the conversion.

Finally England exerted some pressure, declining a shot at goal and kicking for touch to enable their forwards to pound away at the All Blacks' line.

They appeared to have mauled their way over, but video referee Gareth Simmonds controversially refused to award the try.

The score arrived moments later, however, when the ball squirted out of a five-metre scrum, touched the boots of Chris Robshaw and Wood before falling to Launchbury who gathered it up and fell over the line.

Farrell converted and then exchanged penalties with Cruden, reducing the deficit to 20-13 and with the added benefit of Read being sent to the sin-bin for entering a breakdown from the side.

The pendulum had swung in the final 10 minutes of the first half, England's resurgence founded on their dominant pack and Joubert's willingness to penalise the All Blacks at the breakdown.

And the shift in power continued after the interval as England produced their best passage of play with their backs also involved, only for Ashton to kick the ball away.

The action was captivating as New Zealand counter-attacked, missed a penalty and then allowed increasingly influential Billy Twelvetrees to burst through their ranks.

When Ashton was illegally blocked by Wyatt Crockett as he chased his own kick, England won a penalty landed by Farrell.

Rattled New Zealand continued to be penalised at the breakdown when they conceded again, they slipped behind for the first time in the match as Farrell hit the target.

The lead lasted just four minutes, however, as the All Blacks produced a stunning response in the face of some tiring home defence.

Desperate scrambling defence kept New Zealand out in the left corner, but a brilliant offload from Ma'a Nonu gave Savea a sniff of the line and he pounced, with Cruden converting.

A penalty from Cruden put the All Blacks eight points ahead and finally England's resistance had been broken.

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Carter Out of Wales Clash

Getty Images

All Blacks fly-half Dan Carter has been forced out of Saturday's match with Wales because of an ankle injury and will be replaced by Aaron Cruden.

Carter, who has scored 162 points in nine appearances against Wales, pulled up with the problem during an All Blacks training session on Thursday.

He was taken to a Cardiff hospital on Friday morning, where scans revealed the extent of the damage.

"Gutted not to be playing," said Carter on his Twitter account.

Cruden, who has not lost in 18 games for the world champions, has been promoted from the bench to be Carter's replacement.

"It is something you can't control," New Zealand captain Richie McCaw said about the absence of Carter, who is the all-time leading points scorer in Test rugby with 1,381.

"It is disappointing for Dan, but the next guy will come in and we will try to give him some good ball to operate with.

"Aaron has played a few Tests, some pretty big games.

"Dan is a pretty good footballer, 90-something Tests. He is hard to replace, but we have got to get on and have belief in the next guys."

Carter was one of eight changes made by New Zealand to the team that beat Italy 42-10 in Rome last Saturday.

The previous weekend, he was named man-of-the-match in the 51-22 thrashing of Scotland at Murrayfield.

He kicked 21 points and had a hand in three of New Zealand's six tries.

Carter has suffered from injury before, most notably when his 2011 World Cup campaign was cut short, but the All Blacks went on to lift the Webb Ellis Trophy despite losing him during the competition's pool stages.

Cruden started in the semi-final victory over Australia in Auckland, and then started the final against France before he was forced off just before half-time by a knee problem.

Wales suffered disruption to their plans when wing George North withdrew from the side on Thursday with a hip injury.

He has been replaced by Scarlets colleague Liam Williams.

Wales: Leigh Halfpenny; Alex Cuthbert, Jonathan Davies, Jamie Roberts, Liam Williams; Rhys Priestland, Mike Phillips; Paul James, Matthew Rees, Aaron Jarvis, Bradley Davies, Luke Charteris, Ryan Jones, Sam Warburton (captain), Toby Faletau.

Replacements: Ken Owens, Gethin Jenkins, Scott Andrews, Aaron Shingler, Justin Tipuric, Tavis Knoyle, James Hook, Scott Williams.

New Zealand: Israel Dagg; Cory Jane, Conrad Smith, Ma'a Nonu, Julian Savea; Aaron Cruden, Aaron Smith; Tony Woodcock, Andrew Hore, Owen Franks, Luke Romano, Sam Whitelock, Liam Messam, Richie McCaw (captain), Kieran Read.

Replacements: Dane Coles, Wyatt Crockett, Charlie Faumuina, Brodie Retallick, Victor Vito, Piri Weepu, Beauden Barrett, Ben Smith.

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