Mark McCall relieved as Saracens end losing streak

Saracens rugby director Mark McCall expressed relief after his team managed to end a seven-match losing streak across all the competitions with a 29-17 win over Leicester Tigers in their Aviva Premiership encounter at Welford Road.

The Allianz Park outfit capitalised on the handling errors from the Tigers and despite having a tight margin of 10-15 at half-time, they upped the ante in the second half that saw Owen Farrell kicked three penalties and a drop goal to help them complete a 12 point victory.

Both the teams were awarded a penalty try apiece while Jamie George and Matthew Tait scored tries for Saracens and Leicester Tigers respectively.

"It was a confident display from us as we were good with or without the ball and our penalty count was very low," said McCall.

"We did leave a couple of tries out there but we were in control and I didn't think the red card affected the result in any way.

"Jackson Wray has been one of most consistent performers and he was outstanding today but I thought we were good across the board with Ben Spencer impressing and Marcelo Bosch handling (Manu) Tuilagi very well.

"Obviously I'm glad that we are back to winning ways but I thought we were never far away from victory. Apart from the Clermont game we were ahead in nearly all the games including tough fixtures against the likes of Exeter and Gloucester."

Leicester also suffered a setback when Jonny May was red-carded in the 68th minute but rugby director Matt O'Connor refused to blame the sent-off as a reason for the defeat.

"You can't give a side as good as Saracens a 17-point start and we were always chasing the game after that," he said.

"They deserved to win as we were too inaccurate and ill-disciplined at key moments, for although we dominated the set scrums we were well behind on the penalty count.

"They were clinical and took their chances and made us work hard for everything.

"Jonny May's card wasn't why we lost but it's harsh and I would like the law makers to have a look at it."

It was Leicester's fifth consecutive defeat and they now face a difficult task away to leaders Exeter at Sandy Park next Sunday.