Mark McCall says not getting a bonus point win on Saturday may prove costly for Saracens
Saturday 13 December 2014 21:20, UK
Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall admits that his team may end up ruing the fact they could not secure a bonus point victory over Sale Sharks at Allianz Park on Saturday.
However, McCall is confident that his side are in a good position in Pool 1 ahead of the final two rounds of pool matches.
Sarries ran into a determined Sharks side on Saturday but secured a 28-15 win thanks to tries from Alex Goode, Ben Ransom and Billy Vunipola, although they were denied the fourth try that would have earned them a crucial bonus point.
Nonetheless, McCall’s side are atop Pool 1, at least until Munster and Clermont meet in France on Sunday, and the Irish province have still to visit Allianz Park.
McCall said: “We might live to regret not getting the bonus point, but what you want is to be in control going into rounds five and six.
"We have Munster coming here and it's going to be a titanic match.
"But to have 13 points at this stage is OK and if we win both games we win the group. At least it's in our hands.
"I thought it was a patchy performance. In the first half we got into good scoring positions often enough but made some individual errors.
“We had a couple of five-metre line-outs and those were golden opportunities missed."
Sale’s hopes of qualification are over and, having only lost 15-19 at home to Sarries last week, director of rugby Steve Diamond admitted there was more between the teams this time.
"Last week we were unlucky not to win the game but this week we were beaten fair and square by the better team on the night," he said.
"The difference between the squad sizes and quality was shown when the benches changed and that was the turning point. They've got one or two outstanding carriers who played really well, so we've got no complaints.
"We rolled our sleeves up when a lot of sides would have thrown the towel in and, while I'm disappointed with the result, ultimately we were beaten by the better team.
"Over the last five to six weeks we've shown we can compete with the best. We're a difficult side to beat at home and we picked up two away wins in the Aviva Premiership.
"We're in a good place at the minute but we can't be complacent.
“We take each team as they come and it starts with Exeter next Friday. We want to finish in the top six."
