MATCH REACTION | Alex Austerberry (PWR Rd 10)

Director of Rugby Alex Austerberry felt that his side let an opportunity get away from them, as they slipped to defeat on the road against Gloucester-Hartpury.

Despite coming away with a try bonus-point, Sarries had chances to edge ahead in the game and the DoR felt that simple errors had ultimately cost his side.

“You need to pick up points if you aren’t going to win. We got the fourth try and the bonus point but that try also put us within two points and in with a chance to win. That happened a few times and then we made an error in the next passage of play that allowed them to score.”

That try bonus point could yet prove important come the end of the season, but Austerberry bemoaned a lack of clinical edge on the day against the champions.

“You ultimately get what you deserve in a game of rugby. We weren’t clinical enough or as physical as we could have been in the contact and found ourselves chasing the game. It’s a very disappointing day. Yes, that point could be important come the final reckoning but for now, unless we start performing, conversations about the play-off picture can wait until the backend of the season.”

Despite some positives within the performance, Austerberry explained that the coaching staff and players were ultimately as disappointed as each other, as they gave up momentum at critical times within the match.

“We were playing against a very good team with lots of power. If you’re playing well against a good side and they are just doing things better, that’s a different conversation for us as coaches, but the frustration for us as coaches and for the players is that we’re making errors in execution or giving away silly penalties when we’ve been defending well prior to that. That’s what we need to work on. We can’t be our own worst enemies in terms of poor execution. We’re playing against very good teams that will find ways to try and break you down, but you can’t give up your own momentum and we’ve been guilty of that in the last few weeks.”

With the league as tight as it is, every point and head-to-head battles with the teams around you in the table are going to prove critical and Austerberry challenged his side to be more consistent heading into the final part of the campaign.

“Ultimately, you want to be winning the head-to-head points battle against the other teams around you in the league. We’re level on head-to-head match points with Gloucester-Hartpury now after today and it’s tight with the teams around us. When you look at play-off rugby, you need to be beating those other play-off challengers consistently and at the moment we’re not.”

Saracens still sit in the play-off places, but face a sizeable task next week against Bristol Bears at StoneX Stadium, with the DoR accepting that his side has already found themselves in a position where they need to be picking up points from every game they play.

“It’s essentially knock-out rugby from now on for us and that’s the challenge you set yourself when you don’t take advantage of the foothold that you have in games. Today was one of those where we were never ahead on the scoreboard and never gave ourselves a chance to build that pressure. Next week is a massive game and we’re going to have to find a way to put in a complete performance, otherwise it’ll be a challenging day against another very good side in Bristol.”