Saracens big-game experience paid off in European Champions Cup win, says Mark McCall

Rarely does Mark McCall let his guard down, but even the Saracens director of rugby allowed himself to revel in Saturday’s European Champions Cup victory over Clermont Auvergne. After all, this was the Northern Irishman’s fifth major trophy with the Premiership side, and it was probably the most impressive of the lot.

McCall has had to deal with plenty of criticism along the way, both of Saracens’ playing style and of his rotation policy in order to maximise his side’s chances of claiming silverware. You cannot argue that it doesn’t work though, and Saturday’s 28-17 victory over Clemront - in which Sarries outscored their creative opponents three tries to two – felt like a statement performance from the back-to-back European champions.

“I just feel that Clermont are a great team and it didn’t feel that they had any purple patches where we were under sustained pressure,” said a jubilant McCall. “We had them under sustained pressure at various points. But that’s just one side of the equation. The other side is: when you don’t get what you want on the scoreboard, you’ve got to be patient, you’ve got to see it for what it is and understand: we are on top here and if we keep on doing what we’re doing and everyone keeps on doing their jobs well then we can pull away eventually. I thought that experience – when they scored their try to make it a one-point game – shone through.”

Having become the fourth side in history to win consecutive European Cups after Leicester Tigers, Leinster and Toulon, this side can already be ranked among the greats. However, they are young enough and good enough to match Toulon’s record of three European wins in a row, and McCall believes the pain that Saracens had to endure before they reached this level of domination is the reason why they have remained so successful.

Saracens suffered a demoralising European Champions Cup semi-final defeat against Clermont in 2015, but McCall believes that the Premiership semi-final victory the year before – away at Northampton Saints – taught this side how to win big matches.

“When we lost to Clermont in St Etienne it was a really raw time for us as a club,” said McCall. “We had lost two finals the year before [in 2014] and we were on the verge of being known as that sort of team that can’t deliver on the big stage.

“We went to Franklin’s Gardens in the Premiership and won a semi-final that day and it was a big moment of change for us to win then. We haven’t lost a play-off game since which is an incredible record. What is pleasing is that today we showed everybody, we showed ourselves how much we evolved.

“That is why we try to judge what we do in terms of our effort, in terms of our improvement in terms of our togetherness, in terms of our spirit and not on trophies. If you just base everything on trophies you are going to be in trouble. Today is a good example. I thought we were brilliant for 60 minutes but it was 18-17. They kick a goal, they win the match and suddenly are we not proud of the performance. I think we would have been and that is the danger in saying it is all about the trophy. How is everyone and how should they be managed?”

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After seeing their European hopes go up in flames for the third time in five years, there was reason for Clermont to be demoralised. But the former England wing, Nick Abendanon, refused to take the defeat too badly as he accepted just how good this Saracens side really is.

Abendanon was able to enjoy a personal highlight in finishing a 100m-try-of-the-season candidate that brought the scores to within one point, but in the end he accepted that Clermont had come unstuck against a “great” team, and felt nothing but a sense of pride for the French side’s performance.

“We are in a great position; every year we are in the semis or the final,” Abendanon said. “We are a quality team. What you saw today was a Saracens team with all the players on the same hymn-sheet, knowing exactly what they need to be doing at the right times – and maybe that is something we lack a little bit.

“We need to be an 80-minute team when you get to finals. Especially with the slow-ball stuff, we panicked a little bit, with kicks that weren’t on the money so we couldn’t pressurise them.’

“Going into this game, it wasn’t mentioned once, about what has happened in the past. There isn’t any jinx about it; we were up against the European champions who haven’t lost a European game in 17 matches [before kick-off], so it’s not as if we were up against a poor side. Sarries are an absolutely incredible outfit, which they have shown for the last five or six years.

“It was the two best teams in Europe going at it. I think every single neutral fan probably wanted us to win but it’s another year when we’ve fallen a bit short. It is going to be difficult to pick ourselves up to get ready for the next two Top 14 [games], but we will show a lot of maturity to do that and make sure we come away from a great season with the Top 14 title. We have two games left, it’s going to be tough but we have to pick ourselves up and make something of this season.”

You would not begrudge Clermont going on to win the Top 14 final even though it was La Rochelle who topped the table, given this latest European final defeat. But Abendanon’s acceptance that they were second best is a true reflection of just how good this Saracens team is, and the worrying aspect for all of their rivals is that McCall believes they still haven’t reached their peak.