McCall admits Saracens face a ‘challenging period’ after heavy home defeat to Wasps

Saracens’ director of rugby Mark McCall says his side face a “challenging period” after Sunday’s heavy defeat to Wasps.

The league leaders had only lost one of their previous 11 Premiership matches but they conceded three tries in the first eight minutes and eight in total at Allianz Park, going down 64-23 – the most points they have ever conceded at home.

Sarries were missing seven England internationals due to the Six Nations but McCall said: “This squad we played with had a great result at Exeter last week, so we are not going to use that as an excuse.

“This is a challenging period, no question about that. Next week we play against a team on form in Gloucester. It is important we put some of the really bad things right.

“We didn’t see it coming and it’s hard to put into words what happened out there. This is a very big setback. The important thing is what happens next.

“It went wrong right from the beginning and we were given a real lesson by Wasps with and without the ball. When you concede 60 points, there is clearly an issue.”