Steve Borthwick was far from satisfied even though Saracens went top of the league with a 21-15 victory over Leeds.
Skipper, rugby director both critical of table toppers' performance
Saracens captain Steve Borthwick was far from satisfied even though his side went top of the Guinness Premiership with a 21-15 victory over Leeds.
Borthwick, also the England skipper, made sure his squad knew how he felt before leaving to join up with the national team's training camp.
Kameli Ratuvou scored two tries for Saracens, one either side of the break, and Glen Jackson added two penalties and a conversion. Derick Hougaard kicked a penalty when he replaced Jackson, while all of Leeds' points came from the boot of Ceiron Thomas.
"We had a very, very honest meeting in which it was agreed that we were wasteful," Borthwick said.
"In cricket you need to build an innings. We tried to do that but failed.
"So we are not the finished article by any means. Six wins from six is very good, but we are working hard to make sure we are less wasteful and more ruthless."
Saracens rugby director Brendan Venter was also critical of the performance.
"We were really poor out there," the South African said.
"We made it harder work than it should have been. We had opportunies in the first half that we butchered, and when you have opponents like Leeds, ready to scramble and fight for everything, you need to do better.
Disappointing
"I am not happy with that. Our discipline was disappointing and we need to play better than that. We did play some good rugby first half, but we didn't finish.
"I'll take responsibility for our lack of continuity because I am rotating the squad so that when the injuries come, and they will, we'll all be ready to slot in when required.
"There were too many penalties, but it wasn't the referee who was wrong, it was us a lot of the time. We were the better team and we deserved to win, scoring two good tries. But we did not play well enough for me."
Leeds rugby director Neil Back was furious to be leaving Vicarage Road with only one point instead of four.
"The whole squad are very, very disappointed," said Back, whose team are bottom of the table.
"We are learning and improving with every game since winning promotion, but this was a game we should have won
"We created plenty of problems for Saracens and that will give our boys deserved confidence."
