High praise for Sarries duo
The Premiership champions travelled to Northampton Saints, who they beat in last year's semifinal, and encountered a physical battle.
It was decided from the kicking tee, with Farrell slotting four penalties to Northampton's two – Stephen Myler and JJ Hanrahan earned the hosts a losing bonus point.
But it was the Sarries pack that laid the platform for Farrell and McCall admits he has plenty of stars of the future up front.
"I thought all of our English players were magnificent today," he said.
"Our young second rows were exceptional – George Kruis and Maro Itoje were truly brilliant and led the charge physically in the second half.
"We want to play, but sometimes you get games like today, where the ball is incredibly slow and slippy and you have to grind it out.
"It probably wasn't the best advert for the Premiership but that is the way the game went and our job was to make sure we won."
The win keeps Saracens top of the Premiership table, with four wins from as many games, while Northampton have now lost three times in the league.
However, Saints Director of Rugby Jim Mallinder insists the champions of two seasons ago are not about to start panicking.
"We are not a long way off," he said. "I know we have had a disappointing start, but we are not going to be pressing the panic button. We know what we need to do, and we can get better.
"We did pretty well at times today. It was a very closely-contested first half, and we were probably unfortunate to go in 6-3 down, there were some real crucial decisions that went against us.
"It was tight, and our scrum was putting them under pressure. We had a few opportunities, we got into their 22 at times, but lost the ball and in the second half it just seemed to go away from us.
"You have got to be really accurate when you play Saracens and you have to take your opportunities. They play in a certain way, but it is so difficult to beat, as we and other teams have found out."
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