Aviva Premiership: Harlequins hammered at home as Saracens shine at Twickenham Stoop

Conor O'Shea: Won't read the riot act to his players, despite the heavy home loss

Harlequins director of rugby Conor O'Shea described the 39-0 home loss at the hands of Saracens as an "incredible emotional low" for his players.

Charlie Hodgson orchestrated the carnage with a 22-point haul, managing a try to go along with five penalties and a conversion for the visitors.

Even when the former Sale player was in the sin-bin for a deliberate knock-on in the second half Quins still couldn't manage to score a point, leaving the team to say sorry to their supporters after the final whistle.

"The players went over to the crowd to apologise afterwards because that's not us," O'Shea said.

"We were nilled at home in a match that we entered with huge expectations.

"We're shot to pieces because we certainly didn't see that coming. In emotional terms that's a big blow. We have to react to that. We can talk about it all we like, but we have to respond.

"We'll find that very difficult to take, but we have to take it. It's an incredible emotional low. We didn't see it coming."

O'Shea insisted he wouldn't slam into his squad despite the heavy defeat. He was quick, though, to praise the performance of Sarries.

Credit

"We won't read the players the riot act for something like that. It's sport and sometimes you come across things you can't explain. It's easy to read the riot act, but the players know exactly what they did.

"We needed to get the scoreboard going but never managed that. We had so much territory and possession but ended up on a 39-0 defeat.

"I'll give all credit to Saracens, they were outstanding."

Chris Ashton Will Fraser also crossed for Sarries, who have now won two from two at the start of the new domestic season.

"We were pretty relentless out there and because of that we were able to build a lot of pressure," Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall said.

"We weren't expecting a scoreline like that, but we wanted a performance full of energy and we got that.

"Charlie was one of several people who played really well and he'll be the
first to say the pack gave him a great platform.

"Charlie pulled the strings beautifully and that was his first yellow card, but we'll excuse him that."