McCall delight at bonus-point win

Director of rugby Mark McCall praised Saracens for a job well done after a 45-0 win over Edinburgh at Murrayfield in their Heineken Cup opener.

Charlie Hodgson led the way with a 25-point haul, scoring one of five tries - Joel Tomkins, Owen Farrell, Chris Ashton and Alex Goode claimed the others - and booting four penalties and four conversions as Edinburgh were completely outclassed.

"That was very nice to be able to push on in the second half," said McCall, whose side led 16-0 at the break. "In the Heineken Cup a win is vital in the opening game but to get the extra point from scoring those tries was a real bonus."

Edinburgh had expressed their determination before kick-off to get into Saracens and prevent their well-drilled forwards from working, yet the visitors dominated the forward battle.

McCall insisted it had been no walk in the park for his players, though.

"Edinburgh are a difficult team to play against," he said. "It was a huge credit to our boys that Edinburgh were shut out in the game."

In particular he paid credit to lock and captain Steve Borthwick, who was named man of the match.

"He hugely deserved that," McCall said. "He was instrumental in disrupting the Edinburgh lineout so they had no platform."

Edinburgh last season became the first Scottish team to reach the Heineken Cup semi-finals, so it was no surprise that home coach Michael Bradley was left in a low mood after his men slumped to the club's worst European defeat.

"It's hard to put into words what I feel," Bradley said. "We knew the systems they would employ. But my guys didn't play to our game plan.

"Instead of kicking the ball beyond the line of Saracens players, they insisted on running into the dragon's den - we could have been beaten by more."

A number of Edinburgh supporters left the ground in the closing 10 minutes, prompting Bradley to promise an improved display in next week's clash at Munster.

"We've let everyone down," he said. "Today was completely unacceptable. We need to give a big performance next week."