McCall: Yellow card killed us
Saracens Director of Rugby Mark McCall felt Rhys Gill's yellow card had been crucial in his side's 14-3 defeat to Munster at Thomond Park.
The Champions Cup Pool One clash had been an evenly-matched affair, with the home side leading 6-3, until Wales international prop Gill was sin-binned for an illegal lift on CJ Stander.
Munster replacement prop David Kilcoyne, who had only been on for 30 seconds, scored the only try of the game while Gill was off the field, with Ian Keatley's close range drop-goal sealing the win for the Irish province.
Saracens, last year's beaten European finalists, registered a solitary penalty through Owen Farrell as they relinquished top spot in the pool.
McCall admitted Gill's 10-minute absence had been the key moment of a brutally hard-fought affair against the two-time European kings.
"It was a turning point, we had a bit of momentum and were playing some good rugby at that time and turning the screw.
"They took advantage of the yellow card as they always seem to, but overall we made too many errors at the set-piece and we lost territory because of it," admitted McCall.
"We could not get much territory early on but at the end of the first half and the start of the second we were okay and our attack we good, but we just could not get it in the right area."
To make matters worse for Saracens and McCall, Munster held their line intact to the end thus denying the visitors any points at all from the game.
It meant Munster topped the pool and will remain three points clear of their English rivals going into the third round in December.
Saracens face back-to-back games with Premiership colleagues Sale Sharks, while Munster will meet ASM Clermont Auvergne on successive weekends.
McCall, while disappointed not to take a losing bonus point from the game, said there was still all to play for.
"I think the pool is wide open," he said.
"We would have, as a minimum, wanted to take five points from our first two games. You have the win in the first one and come away with a losing bonus from the second.
"The fact we scored four tries and got a bonus last weekend against Clermont was a big bonus," the former Ireland international added.
