'We talked about it': What Mark McCall wants from Sarries in his final weeks as DoR

Mark McCall insisted Saracens are ready to continue defying the Gallagher Prem’s play-off predictor after keeping their season alive with a 19-15 victory over Leicester.

Saracens showed a combination of determination and class to move within six points of the top four with four matches remaining, although should Exeter beat Gloucester on Sunday the gap will widen.

Director of rugby Mark McCall stated after a 21-17 loss to Northampton last month that they would look to enjoy the run in rather than set any specific target, but now knockout rugby is back on the radar.

“Before the Sale game last weekend we talked about the play-offs. There was a percentage going around about us making the top four, which was 15 per cent,” said McCall in reference to the prediction algorithm supplied by one of the Prem’s sponsors.

“We talked about it and said let’s try and take it north of that. And I think after the Sale win it went to 18 per cent. I’m not sure where it’s going to go to now.

Gallagher Premiership

P

W

L

D

PF

PA

PD

BP T

BP-7

BP

Total

1

Northampton

13

11

1

1

57

2

Bath

13

11

2

0

56

3

Leicester

14

10

4

0

52

4

Bristol

14

10

4

0

48

5

Exeter Chiefs

13

8

4

1

47

6

Saracens

14

7

7

0

42

7

Sale

14

4

10

0

27

8

Harlequins

14

3

11

0

16

9

Gloucester

13

2

11

0

16

10

Newcastle

14

1

13

0

7

“We need some of the teams at the bottom to do us a favour and it’s certainly not in our hands, but we are in control of what we do and we’ve now had four good performances in a row.

“We played some good rugby in the first half against Leicester. We just couldn’t capitalise on some of the breaks we made and the good attacking rugby that we had.

“There was a lot about the first half that I liked, from a rugby point of view, but in the second half we had much less of the ball and a big penalty count against us.

“We showed all the fight and all the grit that maybe we had been lacking a couple of times this season.”

Teenage sensation Noah Caluori grabbed his 18th try in nine games with another acrobatic finish that displayed athleticism, strength and instinct for the line.

“I’ve seen it live only and I was told it was pretty good, so it doesn’t surprise me. He caught one under the post, which is, I think, incredible what he did,” McCall said.

“He’s doing really well. I’m not sure if I can say any more than I’ve said over the last couple of weeks.”

Leicester remain third in the table and head coach Geoff Parling was disappointed that they failed to make the most of their chances in north London.

“I’m incredibly frustrated. Someone said to me outside that we deserved to win that game but we didn’t because we lost,” Parling said.

“The first half was a to-and-fro game. We lacked a little bit of zip at the very start of the game.

“But there were too many turnovers – we turned over the ball 14 times in the second half, and in some key positions as well.

“Fair play to Saracens for hustling and going to work there, we know they’re a quality team, but we’ve got to look after ourselves in that area.”