Aviva Premiership: Saracens boss Mark McCall backs England fly-half Owen Farrell to return to his best

Saracens rugby boss Mark McCall has backed Owen Farrell to return to his best in 2015 after a troubling end to last year.

Farrell played in the autumn's QBE Series opener against New Zealand despite injury limiting him to just one club start, but by the time Australia arrived for the climax to the series he had been replaced as first choice fly-half by George Ford.

McCall believes the 23-year-old, who has recovered from a minor calf problem in time for Saturday's Champions Cup showdown with Munster, is now benefiting from an extended run of games.

"I have some sympathy with the England selectors because Owen had been their go-to guy for a couple of years. They obviously had a lot of faith and belief in him," director of rugby McCall said.

"But he'd only had one game of rugby going into the All Blacks match and that turned out to not be enough.

"Owen's not easy to damage, but no one's impregnable and Owen's the same. During that period he came in for an unfair amount of critical attention given that everyone knew he'd only played one game of rugby.

"That's the nature of the beast when you play fly-half for England, I suppose. He's been really good for us and we've asked him to play at 12 a couple of times.

Owen's not easy to damage, but no one's impregnable and Owen's the same. During that period he came in for an unfair amount of critical attention

"It's unfortunate that he didn't play at Gloucester on Friday night, but he'd played five lots of 80 minutes in a row previous to that. Game by game he's got better and better."

Farrell is duelling with Ford to start at fly-half in the Six Nations Championship opener against Wales in Cardiff on Friday, February 6 with his rival from Bath in the driving seat.

"Owen's greatest strength is his self awareness. He understands how he needs to get better in a rugby sense and in terms of how he guides and leads a team," McCall said.

"It's a magic to have a 23-year-old who is that self aware and who wants to be better. He's aware of his strengths and the odd flaw. He's worked hard on those things."

Farrell's England colleague Brad Barritt will make his first appearance since the autumn in the critical European showdown at Allianz Park.

"It's a massive boost having Brad back, we haven't seen him since the autumn. To get a player of his quality back for a game like this is massive. He will be ready to start," McCall said.