Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall says he could not be 'more proud' of his 'courageous' players after they were beaten 24-20 by Northampton Saints in the Premiership final on Saturday.

Ahead 20-17 in the final seconds of extra-time at Twickenham, Sarries were undone by a last-gasp try from Alex Waller, given in controversial circumstances by Television Match Official Graham Hughes.

The game had been taken to extra-time after Marcelo Bosch crossed the line for the Men in Black but replacement fly-half Charlie Hodgson saw his conversion - which would have won the match - strike the inside upright before bouncing to safety.

In the final seconds of 20 minutes extra-time, Waller was adjudged to have made contact with the whitewash as he went down under the posts after  much deliberation by Hughes.

Speaking afterwards to Saracens' website, McCall said: “It’s obviously a very painful way for the game to finish the way it finished. We felt that nothing went our way, but I felt that our players were unbelievably courageous, unbelievably brave and we played well as well. It just felt like one of those days."

The Ulsterman continued: “It is was it is, but I repeat, I couldn’t be, we couldn’t be more proud of the how heroic the players were as we had to keep coming back and win it again and win it again.

“This is painful, but we are very proud of the effort today”.