'Gutted' Mark McCall reacts as Saracens PREM season takes massive knock

Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall believes the fight shown in his team’s 21-17 defeat by Northampton can act as a springboard for the final rounds of the Gallagher Prem.

The loss at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium leaves Saracens 12 points adrift of the play-offs with six matches left to play, making it improbable they will challenge for the title.

But McCall admired their ability to recover from being hammered 62-15 by Bath last Friday and then coming back from falling 14-0 behind against Northampton before seeing their three-point lead overhauled by a 78th-minute Archie McParland try.

“I’m absolutely gutted to lose, but not gutted the way we lost,” McCall said.

“To go 14-0 down so early after losing by 60 points last weekend, the way we fought our way back into the game was magnificent really.

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“I’m actually really proud of the performance given what happened against Bath and some of the goal-line defence towards the end of the match.

“It’s gutting to lose it at the end, but we can work with that and go away dead proud of how we played.

“You want to be part of something good, as in something you can work with, something you can see building, and we haven’t felt that for a bit.

“We needed to feel that, and although we lost, we were two minutes away from having a really happy change.

“I know there’s something good to build on after this and if we go like that for the next eight weeks, we’ll actually enjoy it regardless.

“We’ve got a big game next weekend against Bath in Europe to throw ourselves into, nothing to lose, so I think that’s where we’ll look at it.”

Northampton extended their lead at the summit of the Prem to six points but victory came at a cost with Fin Smith failing an HIA, Trevor Davison being helped off with a leg injury and Emmanuel Iyogun departing with a back spasm.

Saints capitalised on some feeble defending by the hosts to storm into an early lead but boss Phil Dowson was disappointed that they then lost their way until the closing stages.

“We started really well. We created loads of opportunities in the first 20 particularly, but we didn’t convert many of those. We didn’t convert enough of those,” Dowson said.

“In the second quarter, we were on the back foot. The scrum was obviously an issue, which allowed them a foothold in the game and they pounced on it.

“I’d say the middle 40 of the game we’re a bit disappointed with because we couldn’t get into any sort of rhythm.”