'I wasn’t sure how we were going to win a lineout!' - Saracens boss reflects

Mark McCall was delighted at the way his Saracens side were able to adapt in adversity after a thumping 50-12 win away to Newcastle Falcons at Kingston Park.

The reigning Gallagher Premiership champions travelled to the north east without a number of their England stars, who were rested after coming straight back in last week.

They then lost lineout caller and second row Callum Hunter-Hill in the warm-up, with back-rower Ollie Stonham coming into the starting line-up out of position at the last minute.

Despite that, Sarries were able to overcome a slow start to wrap up the bonus point by half-time and make it three wins on the spin, to the delight of McCall.

He said: “As a squad, to come up to Newcastle with some of the disruption we had in the week – we changed the team a lot from last week (and) lost Callum in the warm-up, I wasn’t sure how we were going to win a lineout!

“Ollie Stonham came in – a young lad from our academy – and did a fantastic job. It was a big strength, our lineout, incredibly, so it’s the sort of gritty, intense performance that we wanted and I’m really pleased with how we did.

“We had to graft really hard – the last three weeks, there’s been a really good feeling in the group.

“I thought we problem-solved well on the field, we rolled our sleeves up and were relentless all throughout the game. It’s always the sign of a good squad, when people aren’t too precious and want to help the team as much as they can.”

Falcons opened the scoring through Sebastian de Chaves but Saracens responded with four tries before half-time, Theo Dan crossing twice along with scores from Elliot Daly and Alex Lewington.

Bryan Byrne crossed for Falcons shortly before the hour mark but Saracens then ran away with it, Tom Willis, Juan Martin Gonzalez and Manu Vunipola rounding off a big win.

For Falcons head coach Alex Codling, it was no more than Saracens deserved.

He said: “The scoreline doesn’t often lie, it did probably a bit last week (when Falcons lost to Harlequins). This week we started brightly, scored the first try but after that there were too many errors, we were too ill-disciplined and they showed why they’re a champion team.

“That’s the one thing about Saracens, we spoke about momentum in the week – if you give it to them, it’s very hard to get it back and we gave them plenty.

“We didn’t see the ball for the last 20 minutes of the first half, we started brightly in the second half, but ultimately we’re a long way short. It’s a bigger challenge than I thought it was when I came into the job.

“The Argentinian boys have all come back, obviously they’re all knackered from the World Cup. They love this club, they care about this club, they’re a shining light. That’s a huge positive but obviously there aren’t many others.”