Opposition view: Saracens 'second best in all areas' against 'fantastic' Saints

And McCall has praised Phil Dowson’s side for their ‘fantastic’ performance at StoneX Stadium.

Saints delivered a huge defensive showing and managed to hit their hosts on the break to score twice during the second period, securing a superb 18-12 success against the champions.

It ended Saracens’ five-match winning streak and moved Saints just two points off the top of the Gallagher Premiership.

And McCall said: "We were second best in all areas, to be honest.

"We wanted consistency in our performance but we were way off it, especially in the first half.

"Physically, both sides of the ball, we weren't great and in general our movement off the ball was poor as well.

"We got a little bit better in the last 20 minutes of the match when everything was on the line, and that's the kind of energy we need from the start of the match, to be honest.

"We had three games before this, Gloucester, Newcastle, Harlequins, where our energy was phenomenal and they were really strong performances.

"There were some warning signs last weekend, especially in the first half against Bristol, which felt a little bit like the first half in this game.

"Northampton were fantastic and they thoroughly deserved to win.

"They were great and obviously they scored two tries, which we'll be very disappointed with because of where they originated from.

"We had a couple of chances five metres out but their maul defence was very strong."