Sarries' big sigh of relief
Saracens' George Kruis admitted the final whistle of their clash with Sale Sharks was greeted with a massive sigh of relief.
Last year's beaten European Cup finalists were forced to work hard for their 19-15 victory over their Premiership rivals at the AJ Bell Stadium to keep their knock-out hopes alive.
"It really was with a 100 per cent feeling of relief after that battle," said the England lock Kruis ahead of the quick-fire return in Round Four at Allianz Park next weekend.
"They came at us for the full 80 minutes and it was a really difficult ending to the game."
Wins over ASM Clermont Auvergne and now the Sharks keep Mark McCall's men in the Pool One mix as they bounced back from the defeat at the hands of Munster.
"We have lost a few games in recent weeks and the boys coming back from international duty spurred on everyone and our bench was huge," added Kruis.
"And we know we can do it – it is just about getting back into our rhythm.
"We made two finals last year and although we have had our little hiccup of late now we are back on the road."
Director of Rugby McCall declared: "I thought our defence in the last five minutes in our 22 was pretty heroic.
"There are a lot of the characteristics that I associate with this team that were on show throughout the game. There were times where we could have felt sorry for ourselves, and we didn't.
"We know our performance wasn't perfect, but it was a very important, and hopefully, vital win for us.
"They are a good team on a bit of a roll at the moment, and we came into today on the back of a few disappointing performances, and you could see that 'anxiousness' in our parts of performance in the second-half.
"We conceded some scrum penalties that hurt us in the last twenty minutes that gave them good field position, but we had some opportunities to kill the game off before that, that we just didn't take.
"There was a lot about our performance that was pretty good to be honest. In the first half we were pretty happy with the way things were going. We know how difficult a place this is to come to, we know that Munster got away with a drop-goal in the last minute – so we're very happy with the win," he added.
