Saracens coach Mark McCall praises courage of team in Racing Metro victory

Director of rugby Mark McCall described Saracens’ performance at Racing Metro as one of the most courageous he has ever seen.

Sarries will be England’s sole representative in the semi-finals of the Champions Cup after a 12-11 win in France which was secured with Marcelo Bosch’s penalty, which was awarded with just 15 seconds left on the clock.

McCall admitted afterwards that he felt Alex Goode would be more suited to the kick than Bosch, with the ball 55 metres from the posts and against a strong wind.

But he said the player’s nerve was vital in kicking the penalty which booked a semi-final against Clermont in St Etienne in a fortnight.

“I was surprised to see it was Bosch taking it because I thought it was in Alex Goode's range," McCall said.

"But the wind was very strong, so it was Bosch's range. He had the nerve to say he wanted it, which is half the battle. He hit it pretty sweetly.

"Marcelo is pretty cool.  He's pretty laid back, but like anybody, that's one of those kicks that if you miss it can cause the damage.

"I'm very grateful that he held his nerve. He also made the tackle on our goalline that kept us in the match as well.

"We weren't great in the first half even though we had a very strong wind behind us. But that's where it turned around and I'd say our second-half performance was as courageous, brave and hard working as I've seen.

"We went hunting and kept knocking them down and scrapped for absolutely everything."

Bosch said the secret to his success was to stay calm and to not ‘force it’ in such difficult circumstances.

"With kicks like this you're either the hero of the day or the bad guy, so I'm happy that it went my way. I just stayed relaxed and fortunately it went through the posts," Bosch, 31, said.

"Sometimes they ask me if I'm keen to take the long-range kicks and because of the wind it was not a good distance for the other kickers. I said 'why not? I can take it' and the rest is history.

"The last time I did a kick like that was when I was 21 and playing for an amateur club in Argentina. It was from more or less the same range against our classico rivals.

"It was a great memory for me, but it was a long time ago. I tried to be as relaxed as possible because we had the wind in our face and I didn't want to force it.

"It was the last minute of the game so I was tired and tried not to think about what it represented."