'We seemed to have all the momentum but it was all them on the scoreboard'

Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall was delighted to see his side return to winning ways with a 24-3 win at Gloucester after losing their opening two Gallagher Premiership games of the season.

After losses to Exeter and Bath, a third defeat looked on the cards in the opening period as Saracens were firmly penned in their own half but the hosts failed to capitalise allowing Saracens to seize control and ultimately run out convincing winners.

Number eight Tom Willis scored two tries with Alex Lewington also on the try-scoring sheet and Alex Lozowski converted all three and added a penalty.

WATCH as injured players Malcolm Marx and Makazola Mapimpi rejoin their Springbok teammates

WATCH as injured players Malcolm Marx and Makazola Mapimpi rejoin their Springbok teammates

A penalty from George Barton was Gloucester’s sole response.

McCall said: “It was a massively pleasing effort as we played with a lot of energy and our defensive performance was of a much higher level than we’ve displayed recently.

“Our win came as a result of our off-the-ball efforts and the team was unrecognisable from the one that turned out at Sandy Park.

“To keep a very good Gloucester team to just three points on their home ground takes some doing but we certainly scrapped for everything.”

Gloucester captain Lewis Ludlow accepted his side needed to be more clinical as they blew a number of opportunities in the first 20 minutes before gifting Saracens two tries through careless errors.

He said: “The referee said to me at the end of the match that it was a funny old game as we seemed to have all the momentum but it was all them on the scoreboard.

“We just couldn’t get over the line, which was down to their defence and our lack of accuracy.

“Our scrums went really well but we need to be more accurate with our line-out drills as there seemed to be something off at almost every one.

“Obviously the boys are deflated as we dominated large parts of the game but they had three chances and took all of them.”

Gloucester director of rugby George Skivington added: ” It’s a really disappointing evening after the way we’ve been playing recently.

“For the first 25 minutes, I was pretty happy as we executed our game plan well but we didn’t take our opportunities.

“Then they take advantage of a couple of bobbled balls to score two tries and obviously there is a huge momentum shift.

“I don’t think we functioned well as a unit as we were disjointed at both the line-out and maul and we have had so much trouble with any opposition line-out for over three years.”