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DICKENS RUES LONDON LOSS
Head coach Alan Dickens admitted Saracens’ physicality was the difference as the Londoners took all five points from Saturday’s Gallagher PREM clash at StoneX Stadium.
Speaking after the 73-14 reverse, Dickens said: “Saracens are a quality side, as they showed today, but the main disappointment is that we didn’t manage to build on a quick start.
“We scored the first try and looked like we’d got a second, only for it to be ruled out by the TMO. That was a big moment in terms of going from 14-0 to 7-7 within a couple of minutes, and we were hit hard on the penalty count.
“We played half an hour with 14 men with the two sin-binnings and Christian Wade going off injured at the end, just as we did last week at the Dragons.
“Saracens were clinical in making the extra man count, their physicality was stronger than ours pretty much throughout, and they showed their class.”
Finding some positives on a difficult day, the Red Bulls boss added: “I thought our line-out went well, but on both sides of the ball in other areas of the game I was disappointed by how we went.
“I always say we can’t question the effort and work rate of the players, and I stand by that. They’re very tight as a group, they put everything into it and that’s to their immense credit, I think.
“And as disappointing as today was, like I’ve just said to the lads in the changing room, I still firmly believe we can catch the two teams ahead of us in the table.
“Harlequins and Gloucester both had defeats this weekend, they’re very much in our sights and we’re remaining positive in being able to catch them and finish the season strongly.”
Facing Saracens again this Friday as they travel to the North East in the PREM Cup, Dickens said: “We’ve now got a month or so of PREM Cup games, and we’ll refresh the squad during that period.
“There are guys who have played a lot of rugby, some who are itching for game time and it’s always a chance to help drive the competition within the group.”
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