Saracens explain 'glass half-full' reaction to loss at Leicester
Mark McCall has claimed the future remains bright for Saracens even though the Gallagher Premiership champions have now lost as many games in just over half of the 2023/24 campaign as they did in their entire run to glory last season.
Saturday’s 10-19 reverse at Leicester was the London club’s fifth loss in 11 outings, a record that contrasts sharply with last term’s five losses in 20 regular season games before the playoffs.
However, instead of being pessimistic about his team’s chances of retaining their title, he came away from Mattioli Woods Welford Road claiming there were reasons to cheer due to the fighting nature of their latest loss.
“I was proud and pleased with a lot of things and there are some obvious things we need to improve and get better at,” he explained after defeat left them in sixth place, eight points behind leaders Northampton with seven rounds of matches remaining in a tournament reduced from 11 to 10’ clubs.
“We have got some large injuries, particularly in our front row. Mako (Vunipola) banned, Eroni Mawi out and Tom West unavailable. Jamie George unavailable, Marco Riccioni unavailable, Alec Clarey.
“We have got some personnel missing in the front row and at the minute our scrum is hurting us. There is no question about that but what I liked outside of that was just the way the team got on with it and found a way to fight and scrap and stay in it.
“A lot of things we did defensively I was really pleased with. We almost clicked in attack, not quite but there were some encouraging signs, so I’m going to look at this game through glass half-full point of view because there is a lot we can be optimistic about.”
McCall has suggested in pre-match TNT Sports interview that his team was in a transition and post-game he elaborated on what he meant.
“I remember presenting to the board in 2015 and we had Steve Borthwick and Ernst Joubert and a gang of people who were leaving the club that year and we looked at this new generation who were going to come through and hopefully grab hold of the club and they did.
“That’s eight years ago and they have had a hell of a journey and we have had a hell of a journey during that period of time, but that journey is coming towards an end and there is a new adventure next year on the horizon.
“We have got some real good talent in the squad and thankfully secured most of them for the next three, four years and it’s going to be their team developing at the club. That is something that we are looking forward to.”
That said, losing isn’t something McCall wants to ever get used to. “We don’t want to be losing matches and we want to be playing better than we are playing.
“We haven’t quite had the season that we want but it’s a weird season because there is a seven-week break coming up and teams who have got momentum now have got to find a way to keep momentum in the break.
“There is going to be a sprint to the line and one or two teams are going to get momentum in that period and someone can go from seventh or eighth to first or second very quickly.
“That makes it incredibly exciting. If we can get a little more healthy, get more of our players back, we could be one of those teams.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Big 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.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 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.
2 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
2 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 commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
34 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to comments