Saracens coach Alan Gaffney was far from happy despite seeing his side start their Heineken Cup campaign with a win over Glasgow.
Defensive deficiencies leave victorious Sarries with work to do
Saracens coach Alan Gaffney was far from happy despite seeing his side start their Heineken Cup campaign with a win over Glasgow.
The Guinness Premiership club managed tries from Hugh Vyvyan, Rod Penney, Ben Skirving and Kameli Ratuvou to hold a comfortable lead.
However, the Warriors rallied in the closing stages, crossing twice to make the final score 33-31 at Vicarage Road.
While happy with his side going forward, Gaffney was quick to slam his side for their poor defence which nearly cost them the victory.
Morgue
"Our dressing room is like a morgue at the moment," Gaffney said.
"There's elation at the fact that we have gone out there and done exactly what we wanted by coming away with five points.
"The attacking part of our game was very good and deserves to be rewarded but the defensive part is leaving a lot to be desired.
"It's not the structure, it's individual defence which is letting us down.
"The players have to be accountable and we'll work very hard on it. We seem to slacken off when we get a handy lead and haven't got the instinct of some of the more elite sides who can put teams totally away.
"We have to become much more ruthless and not concede soft tries. The last two were just abysmal."
Next up for Sarries is a trip to Pool Four rivals Biarritz, a game Gaffney knows will not be easy.
He added: "I know how hard it will be. It will be a forward battle and the game will be decided up front."
Glasgow coach Sean Lineen was also not impressed with the Warriors' tackling, claiming they handed their opponents four tries on a plate.
Easy
"There was a lot of rugby played but we had to work slightly harder for our tries than Saracens. We made it very easy for them," he said.
"We gave three of the four tries to Saracens on a plate. They played some good rugby and we had to hang on.
"Our defence has been fairly watertight in the last few games so to leak tries like that was disappointing.
"We made too many unforced errors and Saracens are one team who will make you pay for that but the boys showed tremendous courage to come back."
