Mark McCall revels in 'best performance of the season' as Saracens hammer Northampton

Sarries condemned Saints to their heaviest ever home defeat in any competition

Liam Williams scored twice on his European debut for Sarries (Getty)

Mark McCall was nothing short of delighted after witnessing what he described as the best performance of the season so far, with Saracens firing out a statement of intent to warn the rest of Europe that they will not relinquish their European Champions Cup crown easily.

Saracens ran in eight tries in a 57-13 rout of Northampton Saints on Sunday evening to record the biggest win of the opening round in the Champions Cup and inflict the heaviest home defeat on Saints, surpassing their 54-12 loss to Wasps in 2000.

That this victory comes just five months after Saracens lifted the trophy following their final victory over Clermont Auvergne at Murrayfield last season shows the cup favourites have picked up where they left off, but after failing to deliver an 80 minute performance in their opening six Premiership matches, McCall finally felt that his players kept up their fight for the duration, which was summed up by Ben Spencer’s intelligent score at the death to touch the ball down on the try line when Saints had possession in a ruck.

“It was definitely our best performance of the year and one of the real pleasing things was how long we sustained that for,” McCall said afterwards. “The group challenged themselves at half-time to maintain the intensity that was shown in the first half whether we had the ball or they had the ball and you saw evidence of that.

“I think it was Jackson [Wray] and Owen [Farrell] that tackled Courtney Lawes five metres from our goal line and it kind of typified how much it meant to us not to concede a try even though we ended up conceding a try, we fought with everything that we had, we defended well in that second half and played some really good stuff with the ball in the first half.

“That smart play by him [Ben Spencer] and the tackle by Owen and Jackson on the line showed the intensity that we wanted to maintain and it’s the first time that we’ve done it all year. It’s really pleasing.”

McCall was delighted with what he saw at Franklin's Gardens (Getty)

It is no surprise that Saracens have hit their stride early given that the other two sides in the pool in Clermont and Ospreys will certainly threaten later in the tournament, and McCall admitted that the victory in Northampton will mean nothing if they don’t back it up next week at home against the Welsh region, given the French side snuck a 26-21 victory on Sunday afternoon at the Liberty Stadium.

“It’s obviously crucial that we back up what happened tonight,” McCall added. “I saw they [Ospreys] pushed Clermont really close today, so it’s huge for us.”

McCall will also be relieved that England centre Owen Farrell, returning at fly-half for Saracens after missing last weekend’s win over Wasps with a calf strain, is likely to be available despite a controversial tackle on Ben Foden and subsequent flare-up with his England colleague Teimana Harrison.

Liam Williams scored twice for Sarries (Getty)

Farrell up-ended Foden and dumped him on his back, although referee Pascal Gauzere decided that despite Foden’s legs being well above his head, the fact that his torso remained horizontal and he landed relatively safely meant that the tackle was legal. What the Frenchman was not so happy with though was the subsequent clash with Harrison, who jumped on Farrell in response to the hit, and forearm smash from Farrell that connected with the Saints’ No 8’s jaw, albeit with a great deal of force.

“I thought the tackle was fine,” McCall added. “His reaction when himself and Teimana Harrison were at each other worried me a little bit.”