Brendan Venter heaped praise on the performance of referee Dave Pearson after his side beat Northampton on Sunday.
But Mallinder is left unconvinced by official's display
Saracens director of rugby Brendan Venter heaped praise on the performance of referee Dave Pearson after his side ended Northampton Saints' unbeaten start to the season on Sunday.
Sarries took advantage of an ill-disciplined display by Saints to record a 24-17 victory in front of their home fans at Vicarage Road.
Derick Hougaard kicked all of the home side's points - seven of which were penalties - as Saracens dominated the forward exchanges from start to finish.
Venter said: "We did not show tactical sharpness in the opening 20 minutes, but I told the guys to take the Treviso game off the shelf, the kicking game that we used for that European game last season.
"We had trouble in the scrum at first, but the pack turned it for us against a very strong Northampton pack who have destroyed everyone ahead of them so far.
Harsh
"We studied Dave Pearson's games so far and he does the same in every game, fair penalty awards and spread across the game. He is consistent and very, very impressive.
"And never underestimate how important it is for us to have a fit and available Steve Borthwick in the team in terms of both his tactical brain and leadership qualities."
Northampton boss Jim Mallinder left Watford with a very different opinion of Pearson.
He said: "We think Dave Pearson had a disappointing game. When you lose you tend to look at the referee more critically, but we'll look closely at the video before saying anything further.
"I do believe the two sin-binnings were harsh. Calum Clark just went in to make a tackle and Shane Geraghty also made a tackle and tried to roll away quickly. A penalty, yes, but hardly a yellow card. These sin-binnings are very important.
"But you need to control the ball to control the game and we didn't during the middle of the game."
