Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall has described his side’s record-breaking 68-10 loss to Bath as “ugly and horrible”, but challenged his team to bounce back in their next game against Bristol Bears.
The six-time champions fell to their heaviest-ever Premiership defeat at the Rec, just three years after condemning Bath to a 71-17 defeat at the same ground.
“The experience is ugly and horrible”
The defeat is also Saracens’ second successive Premiership away defeat following their 17-12 loss to Newcastle back in November, and their third in four league outings since October.
“When these thunderbolts come along, it’s how you respond to it which defines the rest of the season,” McCall said on the defeat.
“The experience is ugly and horrible, but it’s how you respond to something like this which could make or break the season.”
He added: “That doesn’t reflect anything I’ve seen so far this year, but it’s only a problem if you don’t do something about it.”
Saracens will turn their attention onto Bath’s West Country rivals Bristol Bears, who themselves suffered a heavy 38-0 loss to Sale Sharks on Friday night, and McCall challenged his side to “get back together” before facing Pat Lam’s side.
“It will sting for the weekend, but we have got to get back together (before Bristol). We have been a lot better than that in the other games this year.”
The Londoners have also faced Bristol once this year, in what is arguably one of the greatest games in recent Premiership history. Bristol raced into a hefty lead, but an inspired comeback and a dramatic Alex Lozowski penalty saw McCall’s men clinch a 37-35 win at Ashton Gate; so the experienced director of rugby will be hoping for a repeat of this result next weekend.
‘Difficult’ day for Saracens
Whilst the result in itself is a tough one to take, the heavy cost on the injury front and the cards will be something McCall will be more concerned about.
Theo McFarland, Tobias Elliott, Nick Isiekwe and Liam Williams all picked up injuries in the defeat, and outside of this Williams and Toby Knight both copped cards, with the young back-rower seeing red.
“Effectively we had 14 men for the whole game,” McCall said. “Then, those injuries just made life difficult for us as well.
“To lose Theo McFarland so early and then Toby Knight being sent off, it made life quite difficult.”
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/saracens-boss-reflects-on-ugly-and-horrible-defeat-to-bath-that-could-make-or-break-season
