Mark McCall hopeful of much-improved performance

With the more than noteworthy challenge of Lyon on their doorstep, Saracens boss Mark McCall is hopeful that his charges can deliver a much-improved performance from last week’s somewhat narrow, 4-point victory over Edinburgh Rugby.

Sarries were unable to completely dominate the game against a gutsy Edinburgh side which threw everything at their opponents.

“We’re happy to come away with a win and obviously with a winning bonus point as well,” McCall said.

“We weren’t at our best, far from it. Maybe that wasn’t a big surprise, having not been together for the last six weeks, and hopefully we can be better than this.

“We couldn’t really get any rhythm in our attack and a lot of that was down to how well Edinburgh defended, especially at the breakdown.

“We couldn’t get quick balls off and we’ll have to look at that for next week, but some magic moments from some magic players got us over the line.

“I’m just proud of the way the team stuck at it. We were second best in quite a few things, but we hung in there.

“This is a very unforgiving competition and you can’t afford to lose your first game, especially at home,” McCall stressed.

“We’ve got a huge game away at Lyon next week, who have been very good at home.”

Captain Owen Farrell exhibited more impatience when quizzed about his side’s performance.

“Edinburgh are obviously a great side and really challenged us, especially around the breakdown, but especially that first half it just didn’t feel like us,” he said.

“I know we’re just coming back together [from international duty] and we don’t want to take a bonus-point victory for granted, definitely not, but we’ve got a long way to go especially after that performance.”