McCall: We’ve been punched in the face

The famous Mike Tyson line is that ‘everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face’.

In a metaphorical sense, that is exactly what happened to Saracens at The Rec last Friday when they shipped 41 unanswered points in a 62-15 defeat to the reigning Gallagher PREM champions.

It was the biggest defeat Sarries have suffered all season, and the first time that they have failed to pick up any match points in a Gallagher PREM encounter.

Now, as they prepare to head to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for The Showdown against league leaders Northampton Saints, Mark McCall has called on his team to respond in adversity.

He said: “It’s a big game for the club, it’s really important, 45,000 people at least and a lot of people at the club work very hard to make it the occasion that it is. But wherever we were playing this weekend, it was going to be big this weekend on the back of what happened at Bath.

“We’ve been punched in the face with something that has not happened before this year and we’ve got to accept and deal with it and get on with it.

“The kind of scoreline is very difficult to accept. We’ve been on the right side of a couple of those games this year, against Bristol and against Sale, it’s the first time something like that has happened to us this season.

“We’ve been honest about it and dealt with it. The important thing is how we respond this week in what is a very big match.”

The final scoreline against Bath is striking, but does not tell the whole story, with Sarries very much in the game when they trailed 21-15 late in the first half and were on the attack, only for a Henry Arundell intercept score to give Bath breathing room.

Having scored 10 quick points late in the first half, Bath then ran away with it in the second, pouncing on every Saracens error, something that McCall admitted had been disappointing.

He added: “The second half and how we responded to the pressure of the scoreboard was really disappointing.

“In the second half, I think we only had to make 16 tackles, so we in effect handed Bath all their tries in the second half with how we went about things.

“When you are under pressure and the scoreboard says something, you want to get even closer to your process and the temptation is to try to get further away because you are trying to make something happen and everyone goes off in different directions. It was a big lesson in how to deal with adversity and scoreboard pressure.”

Sarries will welcome back Maro Itoje, Jamie George and Rhys Carré after all three were given last week off to recover from their Guinness Six Nations exertions, although Juan Martin Gonzalez and Ben Earl have both picked up knocks and will be absent.

The game will be extra special for Elliot Daly, set to make his 100th appearance for the club, and McCall and the coaching staff have been working hard to ensure there is no hangover from the Bath loss.

He added: “I’ve been pleased with how people have been around the place in the last few days.

“When you lose by the margin we lost at the weekend, there is a bit of soul-searching to be done. But I’m confident that we have got the coaching staff and the character in the playing group to respond.

“Just because you lose heavily one week doesn’t mean that you are necessarily going to get a reaction. You’ve got to make that happen in the week. It’s a shared thing between the coaches and the playing group and everyone is in that together. The last two days have been very encouraging.”

Sarries face a Saints team who battled past Newcastle Red Bulls last weekend while resting their own England contingent, staying top of the table as a result.

The likes of Tommy Freeman and Henry Pollock are set to return this weekend, while the prospect of playing at the state-of-the-art Spurs ground is one that has been inspiring the Saints players in training – particularly with away teams enjoying such success at the ground in recent times.

Saints boss Phil Dowson said: “We want to try to make it feel special. I think Saracens have been very good at putting these games on and even back when I was playing, going to Wembley was an experience, being a football fan. Having sat in the stands plenty of times, getting the chance to run out at Wembley was a privilege.

“Tottenham Hotspur is one of the best stadiums in the country, if not the best stadium from a modern point of view. It’s been used for all these different events.

“The lads have been there for the football, for the NFL, for music concerts, and now they get the opportunity to run around on the grass, which is great.”