Owen Farrell ruled out of Aviva Premiership opener for Saracens

England international Owen Farrell is ruled out of the opening game of the upcoming season of the Aviva Premiership for his club Saracens with a back injury.

The fly-half has been instrumental in Saracens' double triumph of Aviva Premiership and European Champions Cup previous season where he was ranked ninth and first respectively in the leading point scorers of the tournament.

The 24-year-old, who was part of the 3-0 series winning England team during their recent tour of Australia, suffered the injuy during the pre-season and has been coping with it for more than a month.

Director of rugby at Saracens, Mark McCall confirmed the injury to Farrell, though he expects him to return to action soon.

"Owen has a little bit of a back niggle, but it's nothing serious. We'll have to see how it is at the start of next week," McCall said.

"It isn't related to the England tour, it's something that has been picked up in the last five weeks. We don't expect him to miss too much though."

In the absence of Farrell, Saracens will have an option to include their new recruit from Wasps Alex Lozowski as the fly-half, while England international Alex Goode will also be in contention.