Saracens boss Alan Gaffney praised his side's spirit after they ended Harlequins' unbeaten home record in the Guinness Premiership.
Saracens boss pleased by manner of victory at the Stoop
Saracens director of rugby Alan Gaffney praised his side's spirit after they came through an early battering to end Harlequins' unbeaten home record in the Guinness Premiership.
Gaffney's men prevailed 27-20 at the Stoop thanks to tries from Neil de Kock, Brent Russell and Rodd Penney.
"We were totally dominated in the first 30 minutes but I commend our defence," said Gaffney. "We scrambled very well.
"I give our guys full credit for the way they defended. We were under the cosh for a lot of that game.
"Quins could easily have scored a couple of tries because we never got into the game in the opening 30 minutes.
"But I thought we came back well in the second half and scored some good tries.
"The second by Brent Russell was straight off the training field."
Monumental
Gaffney singled out the contribution of Australian full-back Russell, former All Black lock Chris Jack and scrum-half and captain De Kock
"We are trained to create leaders and these guys are going out and showing what they can do," he added.
"Jack's enormous - you see the quality of the name with everything he does. He was monumental today.
"And de Kock is a great player and he was elected captain by the players - not myself - and he leads from the front.
"We are now getting guys who want to grow with the club and we are improving as a club.
"As well as being good rugby players, they have to be leaders and good guys who can fit in with the club, and that's what we're getting now."
Frustrating
Harlequins chief Dean Richards disputed the legitimacy of Saracens' opening try.
Referee Tony Spreadbury awarded the score after ruling that De Kock had beaten Harlequins defender Ugo Monye to the touchdown.
"Looking at it on the video it didn't look like a try but I'm not going to moan about it and the second one was a forward pass, but we learn to accept it at Harlequins from the referees this year," said Richards.
Reflecting on the way his side failed to turn early pressure into points, he added: "We created six try-scoring opportunities and converted two of them.
"Saracens are a very good side and their clinical finishing was better than ours on the day.
"The problem was that in the first 30 minutes we didn't put the points on the board. Their defence was good but we had opportunities which we didn't put away.
"I'm quite pleased we are creating the chances but we have got to finish them off. A lot of that comes down to experience.
"It's a bit frustrating when you play as well as we did and come away with nothing."
