Opposition view: McCall salutes Saracens' senior stars after win at Saints

McCall's men scored three second-half tries as they strengthened their grip on second spot in the Gallagher Premiership.

Saints had gone in at half-time level at 6-6 after a strong first-half performance in which they failed to make an abundance of territory and possession count.

And Saracens stepped things up after the break as they eventually cruised home.

“We showed a lot of fight, grit and resolve and we had to tweak a few things in our kicking game and that allowed the rest of our game to lift,” McCall said.

“We had a lot more energy in defence and we attacked a lot better in the second half and the set-piece went to a different level.

"It was just a really good, hard-fought away win.

“When you’re under the pump as we were, in front of a great crowd as Northampton have, in your 22 as often as we were, you need your senior players to step up and I thought across the board ours did.

"I thought Maro (Itoje) had a big game.”