Harlequins 11-19 Saracens, Aviva Premiership
McCall salutes English talent
ESPNscrum Staff
December 27, 2011
Saracens replacement back Chris Wyles barges over Matt Hopper, Harlequins v Saracens, Aviva Premiership, Twickenham, London, England, December 27, 2011
Saracens replacement Chris Wyles barges over Matt Hopper © Getty Images
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Teams: Harlequins | Saracens

Saracens boss Mark McCall is expecting plenty of his players to be included in the England squad for the Six Nations after watching his side end Harlequins' 10-game winning streak with a 19-11 success at Twickenham on Tuesday.

David Strettle touched down for the reigning Aviva Premiership champions, while centre Owen Farrell contributed 14 points with the boot. However, as McCall was quick to point out,flanker Andy Saull, centre Brad Barritt, fullback Alex Goode, scrum-half Ben Spencer, lock Mouritz Botha and fly-half Charlie Hodgson also fared well.

"I thought Andy Saull was absolutely magnificent and, from an England perspective, I thought a lot of our young, English players really made a good impression today," the former Ulster boss said.

"Brad Barritt, who is just getting better and better, Owen Farrell again and Alex Goode who has really come into form in the last month or so.

"Ben Spencer [the scrum-half] really helped to close the game out and [lock] Mouritz Botha did well when he came on too.

"Hopefully they [the England coaches] will take notice and I'm sure some of the Quins players have put themselves forward as well.

"Charlie Hodgson can't be forgotten either - some of his long passes today were outstanding and I don't think anyone else in England can pass the ball like him."

Harlequins director of rugby Conor O'Shea was also full of praise for Saracens' players, and singled Farrell, who didn't miss a single kick on goal, out for special praise.

"I am sure he will be a cornerstone for England for a long time," O'Shea said. "I saw him at Loughborough in a training camp when he was 14 and it was an under-18 camp and he ran the show. He's an outstanding player."

McCall was enthused by his side's performance at the home of English rugby and was particularly pleased by the way in which they held on during a torrid second period in which they failed to score.

"That was a brilliant result for us and a good performance in two contrasting halves," McCall said. "We were in control in the first half but in the second half Quins showed why they are top of the league.

"They played scintillating, off-loading rugby and we had to be at our very, very best to stop them. We scrambled really well and we had to.

"We have won four games in a row and this win was against the top side in the league. We put everything into that match and there are a lot of battered bodies now.

"Quins are still ahead of us in the table so it was good that we were able to deny them a bonus point which they probably deserved."

As for O'Shea, he was dismayed by his side's sluggish start to the game, with Quins conceding 19 points inside the opening 24 minutes.

"To give a lead like that to the Premiership champions was going to be difficult to claw back," the Irishman said. "Our guys fought tooth and nail to get back into it and tried to play as much rugby as we could.

"When you look back you will probably see three opportunities we didn't take. At this level you have to take them."

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