McCall hails Saracen kings of Lyon
Saracens coach Mark McCall hailed his side's composure after battling to a 21-9 victory over Racing 92 in the European Champions Cup final on Saturday.
Owen Farrell upstaged Racing's star man Dan Carter, booting seven penalties in an impressive display of goalkicking at Lyon's Grand Stade to ensure a first European Cup title for an English club since Wasps won in 2007.
Carter, however, looked troubled by the recurrence of a calf injury and played little part in a defence-driven match, eventually hobbling off after 43 minutes.
McCall promised more to come after Farrell and half-back partner Richard Wigglesworth penned Racing back with some sumptuous out-of-hand kicking.
"I thought both half-backs were magnificent today, they were very clever and very smart tactically," the former Ulster and Ireland centre said.
"They constantly pressurised Racing with our kicking game."
McCall added that the victory, coming two years after Saracens were outplayed by Toulon, meant "an awful lot", and was based around a long-term project kickstarted by club president Nigel Wray and ex-caoch Brendan Ventner.
"We truly believe that if we're humble and hungry enough, which I know that we are, there's more good days ahead of us," McCall said.
"Today was a test of how we've grown from two years ago. We weren't good enough to beat Toulon then, they kept us at arms' length.
"But I thought for most of the match today we kept Racing at arms' length. We controlled the game -- it was probably a bit closer than it needed to be -- and that goes down to the players who were magnificent on the pitch, tactically smart.
"When it became a six-point game with 15 minutes to go, the calm and composure... made all the difference."
Racing coach Laurent Labit praised Saracens, who became the first club to win all nine games en route to the trophy, but played down claims that Carter might have been pressed into service before he was ready.
Test rugby's leading points scorer looked leaden-footed, opting not to take up kicking duties and then deprived of playing outside Maxime Machenaud when the France international scrum-half left the pitch on 18 minutes with concussion.
"We're not looking for excuses, injuries or whatever. Saracens controlled the game very well, they were very powerful collectively and had better experience than us," said Labit, whose side scored three penalties through Johann Goosen.
"We knew we had to be at the top of our game because they've dominated all their games. In every domain they were better than us.
"No-one's been able to beat them. They're a great team that suffocates their opponents and takes every opportunity to put pressure on them. We have to take what they've achieved as an example."
Labit said starting Carter had "not been a bet".
"It was logical," he insisted. "Dan is a highly experienced player used to such matches. Although not 100 percent, we thought he could give us a good dynamic for 40-50 minutes.
"Dan has a problem in his calf. He sustained a lesion in the semi-final that had healed. We hope it's not too serious and that it did not bleed.
"We'll have a look at that at the start of week, we'll look after him, we want him back for the Top 14 play-offs."