Fly-half Farrell suffered a knee injury and hooker George damaged his ankle while playing for England against Australia – meaning they are absent as their team begin their European campaign.

The three-time European champions slipped to a 21-18 defeat at home to Edinburgh Rugby in Round 1 on Saturday, but McCall assured his side will be able to shrug off the loss of two key figures in the team.

“Nobody ever wants to lose players of that quality, and they’re the captain and vice-captain [respectively] of our team, but injuries happen in rugby all the time and I think good teams and good squads can be over-reliant on one or two players; you’ve got to be able to crack on and I think we’ll be able to do that,” he said.

“We’ve got a good squad here and we’re looking forward to exposing some of our younger players in this competition.

“I think our challenge is to not think too far ahead [and] to concentrate on the task at hand and what’s in front of us.”

Although Saracens will be without England duo Owen Farrell and Jamie George for the majority of their EPRC Challenge Cup pool games, director of rugby Mark McCall is confident his young players will seize the opportunity to shine on the continental stage.