Brendan Venter praised his Saracens side for battling hard to come from behind and beat Worcester at Wembley.
Saracens boss praises troops after battling from behind to win
Brendan Venter praised his Saracens side for battling hard to come from behind and beat Worcester at Wembley.
Sarries could have folded to a third straight Premiership defeat as they faced an eight-point deficit with only 14 men, but they hit back to score 13 unanswered points on their way to victory.
Director of rugby Venter was surprised by his side's poor first half, but had to praise the way his troops kept plugging away to grab the win.
"We were very flat in the first half and I don't know why," said Venter. "And it couldn't have been going any worse when we conceded a penalty try and a yellow card.
"We just fought back and fought back. Even with a yellow card, we were the better team.
"In the end, we played like Saracens should play. We tackled properly, chased our kicks properly and kept the ball in hand. I am very proud of the guys."
Wembley way
It was Sarries' third win of the season at Wembley, and Venter was thrilled to be involved in another big occasion with over 40,000 there to watch it.
"It was a great occasion," Venter added. "I was sat there thinking I am privileged just to be part of something like this.
"It really is something that in the middle of the Six Nations, we can get 40,000 people here. It's fantastic, a special day out."
Venter paid credit to the Warriors by adding: "If Worcester are the second-bottom team in the Premiership, then this must be a very good competition.
"We just had depth and a lot of players who could come off the bench. They didn't - they were just out on their feet at the end."
Ruddock proud
Worcester director of rugby Mike Ruddock felt De Kock's try, which came following turnover ball and made it 22-20 after Jackson's conversion, was the killer score.
"It was a great breakaway try from Saracens," Ruddock said. "It was a 14-point swing because it could have been us under the sticks. We were totally committed to that attack and that broke our hearts, I think."
Although they surrendered the lead despite having the numerical advantage, Ruddock was proud of his team nonetheless.
"We outscored them two tries to one and played all the rugby, especially in the first half," he said.
"Up until their try, they didn't look like breaching our line. We controlled the game. We put a performance we can be proud of but we just couldn't get the result we wanted."
