Saracens' director of rugby Mark McCall put a 32-21 victory at Newcastle down to his squad's experience.

McCall, whose side came away from Kingston Park with a five-point bonus win, pointed to the way they handled being down to 13 men with two second-half sin-binnings and their lead whittled down to a single point to come out winners, but he was under no illusions as to Saracens' performance.

"I think it's fair to say we were under par in most areas," said McCall.

"There were some glimpses and passages of defence that were very strong and there were some attacks towards the end of the first half which were promising, but for the most part we were under par in both those areas and the line-out was not as good as we expected it to be, so there is a lot for us to get better at."

McCall's opposite number Dean Richards paid tribute to Saracens' fitness, saying they looked in better shape than he has seen them before, and McCall said: "We do have an unbelievable performance director who has been around for a long time and does a phenomenal job.

"For instance, Will Skelton has come down from 140 kilograms to something a lot more sensible and he's moving better, getting over the gains line better and looking the better for it. It was very encouraging to see him doing that.

"We did show some good experience towards the end when we had a lot to contend with.

"In the second half we lost a few players through injury and yellow cards that gave us a lot to contend with and when they scored their try to get within a point, our experience showed.

"We were very clear in our message and the players knew what they needed to do in those last nine minutes and they did it."

Richards was disappointed his side did not get something out of the game, and said: "Saracens have an unbelievable squad haven't they?

"But our boys did play really well and were competitive across the board and I'm disappointed we didn't get at least a bonus point.

"The experience they had on the bench showed in the win at the end of the day. When they went down to 13 men they were still able to close the the game down."

Richards felt referee Ian Tempest should have taken a close look at Vereniki Goneva's slight of hand - or foot. He appeared to touch down for a 22 drop out but raced away to score, only to be told to come back for a 22 drop out restart.

Television replays showed he had dabbed the ball down on his foot and not grounded it before racing 100 yards to score.

The referee is said to have described Goneva's actions as a 'game value offence' and against the spirit of the game.

"I don't know what that is," said Richards. "If it's against the spirit of the game, then so is a dummy pass isn't it? And if it's a game value offence why didn't he penalise him? I'm amazed he didn't go to the TMO and then make a decision.

"This sort of things happens quite often doesn't it? About once every five years," quipped Richards.

"But Nicky does this sort of thing all the time. He has quite an amazing skill set and he is liable to try anything.

"He is a really gifted footballer and it has taken the boys a while to adapt to him, but they are now really in tune with what he does now.

"He would have talked to the boys about what he was going do as he did it."

When asked for his reaction, McCall said: "I didn't have a really clear view of it but I'm assuming that the referee called a 22-metre drop out.

"I think our players are entitled to stop if it's called back and I think if the referee calls a 22-metre drop out, then it's a 22-metre drop out."