McCall pleased with Saracens fight

Editor

Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall was delighted with his side’s fighting spirit as they came from behind to defeat Northampton 27-25.

Sunday’s result at Franklin’s Gardens kept Saracens in touch with leaders Wasps and second-placed Exeter on the Premiership table.

McCall was happy with how his charges fought back from 13 points down as a late Alex Lozowski conversion broke Saints fans’ hearts.

“We had a decent bench to bring on, of course but I think the players got almost angry after the third try which was a really poor and sloppy one to concede,” he told Saracens’ official website following the away victory.

“It felt as though they were irritated with themselves which meant they carried the ball that bit harder and starting to get off the line that bit harder. This put them under a lot of pressure and thankfully we had time to win the game.”

Next for Saracens is a Champions Cup semi-final with Munster and McCall admitted it was an ideal wake-up call for them ahead of Dublin.

“It was a bit of a lesson to us about the big things that need to be right. Some of those big things that were wrong today won’t be good enough against Munster and we need to work hard on them during the week,” he said before praising the returning second-row George Kruis.

“It was great for George to get 80 minutes under his belt before next weekend. I thought he did pretty well overall but I thought that Alex Lozowski had a superb last half-an-hour. It was great to see him control the game and show his athleticism that he’s got in that last 25-30 minutes especially,” he said.