Mark McCall ‘chuffed’ with young Saracens’ resilience

Adam Kyriacou

Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall believes the future is bright for the club despite a 40-27 defeat to Worcester at Sixways on Wednesday.

Sarries will be relegated after Sunday’s clash with Bath but McCall saw his youthful side score four tries to pick up a bonus point as they pushed a full-strength Worcester to the wire but ultimately the Warriors were just too strong, crossing for six tries.

Francois Hougaard scored two of them and Noah Heward, Ashley Beck and Ted Hill also went over and there was also a penalty try awarded.

Charlie Watson and Ali Crossdale both scored two tries for Saracens with Manu Vunipola adding two conversions and a penalty.

McCall said: “We had a very young side with five debutants and although we gave away a couple of soft tries, we bounced back and showed great resilience and I’m chuffed that we got a deserved bonus point.

“Last year Manu Vunipola made his debut on this ground and look what he has achieved in this 12 month period and I’m really excited about this particular group as they could develop in the same way.

“We would like to go out with a bang on Sunday. It will be Brad (Barritt)’s last game and I don’t know whether he will be available yet as he’s going through the protocols but I really hope he makes it.

“We won’t lack motivation as it is Wiggy’s (Richard Wigglesworth) 250th appearance and 100 for Michael Rhodes.

Worcester director of rugby Alan Solomons paid tribute to Saracens.

He said: “They are a fantastic club and their youth players played tremendously.

“It’s tough playing without crowds but it was a positive end to the home season by collecting a bonus-point win.

“It wasn’t a perfect performance from us as we gave away a try before the interval and made a couple of understandable errors in the wet conditions. In the second half we gave away too may penalties and therefore struggled to get any field position.”

Daunting trip

Worcester now face a daunting away trip to Sale on Sunday in their final fixture but if they win and other results go their way they could snatch eighth position in the Premiership table and with it a place in the European Champions Cup for next season.

Solomons added: “It will be tough as we will be playing against almost a full South African international side.

“We will come in tomorrow morning and have a debrief concerning any injuries and then assess what side we can pick but Sale will benefit from having one day more rest.”

 

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