'I wasn’t sure how we were going to win a lineout!' - Saracens boss reflects
Mark McCall was delighted at the way his Saracens side were able to adapt in adversity after a thumping 50-12 win away to Newcastle Falcons at Kingston Park.
The reigning Gallagher Premiership champions travelled to the north east without a number of their England stars, who were rested after coming straight back in last week.
They then lost lineout caller and second row Callum Hunter-Hill in the warm-up, with back-rower Ollie Stonham coming into the starting line-up out of position at the last minute.
Despite that, Sarries were able to overcome a slow start to wrap up the bonus point by half-time and make it three wins on the spin, to the delight of McCall.
He said: “As a squad, to come up to Newcastle with some of the disruption we had in the week – we changed the team a lot from last week (and) lost Callum in the warm-up, I wasn’t sure how we were going to win a lineout!
“Ollie Stonham came in – a young lad from our academy – and did a fantastic job. It was a big strength, our lineout, incredibly, so it’s the sort of gritty, intense performance that we wanted and I’m really pleased with how we did.
“We had to graft really hard – the last three weeks, there’s been a really good feeling in the group.
“I thought we problem-solved well on the field, we rolled our sleeves up and were relentless all throughout the game. It’s always the sign of a good squad, when people aren’t too precious and want to help the team as much as they can.”
Falcons opened the scoring through Sebastian de Chaves but Saracens responded with four tries before half-time, Theo Dan crossing twice along with scores from Elliot Daly and Alex Lewington.
Bryan Byrne crossed for Falcons shortly before the hour mark but Saracens then ran away with it, Tom Willis, Juan Martin Gonzalez and Manu Vunipola rounding off a big win.
For Falcons head coach Alex Codling, it was no more than Saracens deserved.
He said: “The scoreline doesn’t often lie, it did probably a bit last week (when Falcons lost to Harlequins). This week we started brightly, scored the first try but after that there were too many errors, we were too ill-disciplined and they showed why they’re a champion team.
“That’s the one thing about Saracens, we spoke about momentum in the week – if you give it to them, it’s very hard to get it back and we gave them plenty.
“We didn’t see the ball for the last 20 minutes of the first half, we started brightly in the second half, but ultimately we’re a long way short. It’s a bigger challenge than I thought it was when I came into the job.
“The Argentinian boys have all come back, obviously they’re all knackered from the World Cup. They love this club, they care about this club, they’re a shining light. That’s a huge positive but obviously there aren’t many others.”
Comments on RugbyPass
“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to comments