Saracens rugby director Mark McCall admitted his side were far from their best as they ground out a 24-9 win over Newcastle.
Tait criticises Hogg following yellow card
Saracens rugby director Mark McCall admitted his side were far from their best as they ground out a 24-9 win over Newcastle.
McCall said: "That was very frustrating, a poor spectacle and I'm disappointed. We put more than 50 points on Newcastle in this fixture last season so give them credit for improvement with a number of young players on board.
"But we'll need to address the way we played during the week before taking on Bath at home next Sunday."
Newcastle boss Alan Tait had some harsh words for his experienced number 8 Ally Hogg, whose sin-binning in the second half gave Saracens a crucial numerical edge.
"At 11-9 midway through the second half we were in with a shout," Tait said. "But if we are to go forward as a club we need to learn from what happened afterwards when we finished up without even a losing bonus point.
"Some of the boys gave their all. I asked them to make an impact and they did which is why, despite losing, I see reasons to be cheerful.
"We got no decisions at the scrum which is disappointing, but even more disappointing was Hogg's yellow card.
Stupid
"He shook my hand afterwards, apologising, but I told him he owed the boys one. It was a really stupid act to grab the scrum half; it was needless and proved so costly at a crucial stage in the game reducing us to 14 men for a very costly period.
"I watched us really crumble here last year, but this group of lads dug really deep and although we are facing a real battle between now and the end of the season, their showing tremendous character."
