McCall raps Saracens after Tigers claw back a draw in last minute
SARACENS boss Mark McCall criticised his team for a lack of discipline after they allowed Leicester to snatch a 21-21 draw with a last-minute penalty in yesterday’s Premiership clash.
Sarries led for almost the entire contest at Welford Road, despite having Marcelo Bosch sent to the sin-bin, but were pegged back at the death when they were controversially penalised at the scrum and Tigers fly-half Owen Williams landed his seventh kick. All of the visitors’ points cam from the boot of Charlie Hodgson, who scored his 500th Premiership penalty. “When you are winning the game with 45 seconds to go you’re obviously disappointed not to win the game,” said director of rugby McCall. “We should never had been in that position really. It was a very tight game, and was a real arm-wrestle throughout. We seemed to have the edge through the whole game, and when we were six points up we found a way of letting them back into the match. Our discipline wasn’t up to our usual standards.”
Saracens, who remain fourth in the top flight, opened up a 6-0 lead, and though Williams, who kicked all of Leicester’s points, drew the hosts level, Hodgson landed two more before the break to give them a 12-6 half-time lead.
The two No10s traded penalties as Saracens kept Leicester at arm’s length until the 68th minute, when Williams tied the scores at 18-18. Hodgson appeared to have struck the final blow when he put his side back in front, but a disputed scrum decision allowed Tigers to equalise.