McCall praises ‘outstanding’ Saracens

Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall praised his team's performance after they clinched successive Champions Cup titles on Saturday.

Tries from Chris Ashton, George Kruis and Alex Goode saw the English side win 28-17 Murrayfield as they followed up 2016's win in style.

"It was an incredible performance, a great team performance. We just couldn't get away from them. It felt as though we were dominant in a lot of areas and they weren't putting us under pressure," boss McCall told EPC Rugby.

"But after they scored their amazing try we had to show our resilience. We showed a lot of sides to ourselves. It was a one-point game and then it felt as if the Gods were going to go for Clermont.

"I felt after they scored their try that this wasn't a game we deserved to lose. But it was a one-point game and we just did enough to win it. We did a lot of very good things, but couldn't quite get over their line.

"We went after them in the last 10 to 15 minutes and got our rewards."

McCall added on the victory: "It felt like we were dominant for long periods and attacked very well, but we were never away on the scoreboard. When they scored their 100-metre try, the only place we were not in control was the scoreboard, but we reacted superbly in the last 20 minutes and got what we deserved.

"Some of our attack was outstanding and we could have scored a few more tries.

"It felt like we had improved from last year. It was a different type of final and we showed great qualities – all parts of our game were strong.

"There is no reason we cannot get better and stronger given the age profile of the group. It was the manner of our victory that was most pleasing and encouraging."