Premiership: Mark McCall praises Owen Farrell’s composure after veteran’s late heroics helps Saracens to victory over Gloucester

Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall praised his captain Owen Farrell after the veteran slotted a late kick to seal a 41-39 win against Gloucester, claiming he “lives for those moments”.

McCall’s men managed to overturn a 12-point deficit in the final 10 minutes thanks to a brace from substitute hooker Tom Woolstencroft, both from maul tries.

Clutch goal kicking

Farrell nailed both conversions to claim a dramatic win in the final play of the clash, underlining his impressive composure in key moments.

Gloucester head coach George Skivington claimed he knew Farrell would make the kick and said, “I’d packed my bags at that point.”

McCall says he would only want Farrell to put the ball on the kicking tee in those moments as his competitive nature powers him in those moments.

“I’m not sure we’d rather have anyone else kicking. He’s done it time and time again,” McCall said.

“He lives for those moments. Having that competitive spirit on the field at that stage of the match is exactly what you want.”

Gloucester scored 26 unanswered points to come back from a 20-10 deficit, but McCall’s bench played a massive role in his side’s late surge to steal the game at the end.

“Well done to the bench, they had a big impact on the last 20 minutes of the game,” McCall said.

“We had a horrible period either side of half-time when we conceded 26 points. The game was getting away from us.

“While we are really pleased with the result at the end and the impact of the bench, there’s probably more bad than good in the match.

“The way we lost our way is something that we’ll have to reflect on. We can’t be happy with how we played in that first 50 minutes.

“Our rugby wasn’t perfect in the last 20 minutes, far from it, but there was a different energy in the group.

“I’m grateful for the way we played at the end but overall we’ve got to be way better than that.”

Poor game management

Skivington was upset with how his team finished the game and admitted his side did not manage the game well enough in the back end, opening the door for Saracens.

“I’m massively disappointed. I’m gutted. There’s no point pretending I don’t feel sick about that one,” Skivington said.

“The reality is we had a 12-point lead with 15 minutes to go and we didn’t manage it well enough.

“There was a bit of desperation on their part, they had nothing to lose in the last 15 and they pushed their luck at the breakdown. That’s the way the game goes.”

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