Saracens Director of Rugby Mark McCall has issued a stern warning to his team following their "incredibly disappointing" 36-28 defeat to Leicester at Mattioli Woods Welford Road. The loss saw Saracens suffer four first-half tries, which McCall described as an emotional setback.
"We weren't ready for the big game - we clearly weren't," said McCall. "In the end that falls on me and we've got to do something about it." The Saracens boss acknowledged that his side's poor preparation had led to the dismal result.
However, McCall is determined to bounce back with a positive attitude and will use Toulouse's experience as an inspiration. The French club has built a dynasty through their "build-from-within" approach, developing young players who are now leading the team over the past decade.
"We played a round-robin game in the Champions Cup there in 2016 and we won quite easily," McCall recalled. "Their solution was to build from within. They knew they had a crop of youngsters who were 18, 19, 20, 21 at the time, who are all in their late 20s, early 30s now, who've led the club over the last 10 years."
McCall believes that building a young team takes patience and that he has learned valuable lessons from Toulouse's success. The Saracens boss is determined to put his side's recent defeat behind them and move forward with renewed energy.
The three-time reigning French champions, Toulouse, are set to host Saracens at the sold-out StoneX Stadium on Sunday in a crucial Investec Champions Cup match. With their stars rested for their previous league match, Toulouse will look to make it to the last 16 of the competition.
"We weren't ready for the big game - we clearly weren't," said McCall. "In the end that falls on me and we've got to do something about it." The Saracens boss acknowledged that his side's poor preparation had led to the dismal result.
However, McCall is determined to bounce back with a positive attitude and will use Toulouse's experience as an inspiration. The French club has built a dynasty through their "build-from-within" approach, developing young players who are now leading the team over the past decade.
"We played a round-robin game in the Champions Cup there in 2016 and we won quite easily," McCall recalled. "Their solution was to build from within. They knew they had a crop of youngsters who were 18, 19, 20, 21 at the time, who are all in their late 20s, early 30s now, who've led the club over the last 10 years."
McCall believes that building a young team takes patience and that he has learned valuable lessons from Toulouse's success. The Saracens boss is determined to put his side's recent defeat behind them and move forward with renewed energy.
The three-time reigning French champions, Toulouse, are set to host Saracens at the sold-out StoneX Stadium on Sunday in a crucial Investec Champions Cup match. With their stars rested for their previous league match, Toulouse will look to make it to the last 16 of the competition.
This Saracens team is struggling big time 
... four tries in the first half? 
what's going on with that defense? 
they need to sort themselves out ASAP 
... Mark McCall's right, he can't blame anyone else but himself 
but hopefully, they can take some tips from Toulouse's approach 
"build-from-within" makes so much sense... those young players are like a well-oiled machine 
and Saracens just need to be patient, it'll come around eventually 
. McCall's right though, his side wasn't ready for that match, we can all agree on that 
. But what really caught my attention was how Toulouse built that dynasty from within 
it's not just about having talented players, it's about developing them and making them leaders 
, it won't be easy though, they'll have to get that patience thing down 
.
Still, you gotta respect how Toulouse has built their dynasty over the past decade. They've got some serious depth and patience is key in this game.
But, on the other hand, Saracens has been pretty ruthless when they're on form... so let's see how this new approach plays out. Hopefully, we'll get to see some of that old Saracens magic back on Sunday! 
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that's just not how you win games. McCall's got to get his team back on track ASAP or they'll be stuck playing catch-up all season.
Toulouse's approach is all about developing young players and letting them take over the reins. It's a whole new way of doing things in rugby... Saracens needs to get on board ASAP if they wanna stay competitive.
, I'm hoping McCall's team has figured out what went wrong against Leicester and comes back swinging against Toulouse 
. anyway back to rugby... toulouse's approach is so inspiring, but what if saracens focus on developing their own young talent instead of relying on imports? maybe mark mcCall should create an academy program or something?
can't believe McCall is taking the blame for that team's performance 
like he's the only one responsible for those four tries in the first half 
if you wanna take down top teams like Leicester 
but hey mark mcCall is trying to learn from toulouse's "build-from-within" approach which sounds kinda cool 
and yeah building a young team takes patience so maybe saracens can use this as an opportunity to grow 
that's the kind of attitude you need when you're on the brink of collapse 
they built this dynasty from scratch and it's inspiring to see how they've done it over the years... 10 years of building young players and now they're one of the best teams in europe 
Their defense was all over the place... Four tries in the first half?! That's just not good enough. 
But you gotta give credit to Toulouse, they've built this dynasty from within and it's working out pretty well for them 
. Mark McCall is learning from their example and trying to build a young team too, so fingers crossed that Saracens can turn it around soon! 
. I don't know, maybe Mark McCall just needs to take a step back and chill out for a sec... or get some new coaching staff 
Saracens gotta bounce back from that brutal loss and I think McCall's strategy is genius