Mark McCall shocked after Saracens' defeat to Clermont Auvergne in Champions Cup

Saracens rugby director Mark McCall expressed shock over his team's 14-46 defeat to Clermont Auvergne in the recently concluded European Champions Cup clash at Allianz Park on Monday.

The game which was originally scheduled for Sunday was postponed to 5:30pm local time in the following day as a result of adverse weather conditions at the venue.

However, it was Clermont Auvergne, who completed their revenge on Saracens for their defeat in the final last season with a solid six-try performance that saw them seal 14-46 win to claim the top position in Pool 2.

Saracens lost up to £300,000 due to the postponement and their misery was extended on to the pitch where they crashed to their greatest loss in European competition and a sixth-successive defeat before a crowd of 2,661.

"We didn't see that coming," said McCall, the club's director of rugby.

"I know we've lost a few games in a row, but they were relatively tight games that we lost by a point or two here or there, but we never saw that coming.

"It shows what conceding a couple of early tries for the opposition can do to your confidence, but we missed so many tackles which is unlike us.

"Individuals were falling off tackles and Clermont have the individuals to penalise us for that.

"We felt good as a group before the game, so the postponement wasn't really relevant."

The Sarries missed a total of 37 tackles that was capitalised mostly by Fijian wing Alivereti Raka, who scored the second fastest hat-trick in Europe.

The two teams will meet again next weekend at Stade Marcel-Michelin and McCall has urged his team to regroup and end the year on a high.

"What we said in the changing room is that by the end of January we hope we can be proud of how we we respond to this difficult situation we find ourselves in," McCall said.

"Potentially that isn't just about outcomes because we have a difficult game against Clermont away in six days, it's also about staying tight as a group and sticking together as a group.

"We've got enough good players at the club and people who care about the club enough to respond in the right way over a six-week period.

"We have three Champions Cup games and three Aviva Premiership games to try to find some form and get back to our true selves.

"That won't be easy because we've got a few injuries, but let's see how we respond in six weeks time to this very difficult situation."