Saracens director of rugby Eddie Jones has called for the EDF Energy Cup to be turned into a youth competition.
Saracens boss wants age limit on Cup competition
Saracens director of rugby Eddie Jones has called for the EDF Energy Cup to be turned into a youth competition to help the upcoming stars of English and Welsh rugby.
Jones saw his side defeat Bristol 24-22 but still go out of this year's EDF competition as a result of Northampton's bonus-point victory over the Scarlets.
Australian coach Jones believes that the competition would be better used as an Under-23 tournament, to help clubs bring through the stars of the future.
"If the EDF have any money left over during this credit crunch then I think they should invest it in an under-23 competition, with perhaps five over-age players in the match-day squad," said Jones.
"It would be so important not just for us but also for England rugby and I'm sure the Welsh clubs would like it too.
"You need regular competitions for these young guys. Perhaps they could be played mid-week."
Penalties
Jones lamented the amount of penalties given away by his troops, but was satisfied with their recovery to go on and win the game.
"The first half penalty count was 14-4 against us and it is always difficult to play well when you have that amount of possession against you," Jones added.
"Certainly we were architects of our own poor effort in the first half and we were lucky to be in the game. The good thing is that we are developing some consistency.
"In the second half we were methodical - we played how we needed to play and I was pleased with our second half. We have now played ten games and we are pretty consistent."
Bristol head coach Richard Hill not only saw his team defeated, but also suffered a trio of big injuries that could affect the rest of their season.
"We lost hooker Mark Regan (knee) who runs our scrum, lock Nathan Budgett (dislocated fibula) who runs our lineout and centre Neil Brew (hamstring) who runs our defence," said Hill.
"These are the three personnel that we could least do without and we have lost them through injury. This has been a very costly game for us.
"The players have got next week off but they will be asked to get their head right ahead of our next Premiership game at home to Northampton [November 16] but it will certainly test our resources to the full.
"They will need to roll up their sleeves because we haven't got much experience in reserve at centre. We are on our backside a bit and things are not going too well."
Sin-bin
Bristol lost their way when winger Mat Turner was sin-binned in the 56th minute only minutes after coming on as a replacement.
"He had only been on the field a few minutes before the incident," Hill added.
"Saracens to their credit capitalised on the extra man scoring two tries and we lost our grip on the game.
"We didn't play well. There were lots of errors and we didn't get anyway near what was expected of the team but we did go into the break 16-6 in front. The second half was again error strewn and we didn't look after the ball.
"We have got to learn to scrap out and win these games especially when it becomes a two-point game, which it was, we have got to win those games because we are at the bottom of the Premiership.
"The 15 that start against Northampton are really going to have to dig in and produce one hell of a performance for us. They can do and will do."
