Premiership: Mark McCall hails Ben Earl after Saracens’ win over Sale Sharks
Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall sang Ben Earl’s praises after the flanker played a crucial role in the team’s 18-12 win against Sale Sharks at the AJ Bell Stadium on Friday.
Earl was rewarded with the official man of the match award after delivering a superb all-round performance in which he crossed for a brace of tries and also shone on defence.
Out in the cold
The 24-year-old has played in 13 Test for England but has not featured at Test level since his country’s 32-18 Six Nations loss to Ireland in Dublin last year.
He was not part of England’s squad for this year’s Six Nations and he failed to earn a recall when other players, like fellow back-row Tom Curry, were injured.
The Saracen was ignored by England head coach Eddie Jones while openside flankers Tom Pearson, Sam Underhill and Jack Willis were all brought into the Red Rose squad.
“He’s on top of all parts of his game,” McCall said. “He’s the top tackler in the Premiership this year. The quality of his tackling has improved but he’s a devastating attacker as well. He’s like having an extra back on the field.
“He did a lot of important things on the field for us today and he’s done it all season.”
McCall was also happy with the way his side responded after they were made to work hard before sealing a narrow victory over Bristol last weekend.
“We felt we were a bit individual in some of our actions last week,” he added. “We wanted to play together and have that cohesion which we maybe didn’t show last week, and I felt we had that today.
“Often if you lose, you get a response from your team. We won last week but when we came in on Monday it didn’t feel like we had won because our players are very demanding of each other, in terms of the standards that they want.
“We have high expectations and we didn’t meet those expectations last weekend.
“Even though it wasn’t perfect rugby from us today – far from it – I thought we were on the same page.”
Meanwhile Saracens great Alex Sanderson, who is now the director of rugby at Sale, was disappointed after his side’s home defeat.
Sanderson had a successful 17-year stint at Sarries before leaving them to join Sale in January 2021 and guided the Sharks to last season’s play-offs but they are struggling to repeat that feat this season.
He is still positive they can achieve that goal but admitted that it’s highly unlikely.
“Frustration doesn’t come into it, I’m gutted,” he said. “I’m gutted because the hopes of proving our worth has just become that bit harder to take hold of, in terms of controlling our own destiny.
“We’re not going to stop fighting, there’s no point throwing the towel in… but clearly we have to be better.
“For all the effort, for all the physicality, for all the territory and for all the possession we had in the first half, we needed to convert that into some points.
“Our aim remains the same, as it has been since Christmas, which is to win every game and pick up every bonus point we can.
“I’m sure it will come down to that last game which will keep the Premiership exciting and keep us very motivated. But we’ve just made it that bit harder for ourselves.”
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