Barritt so proud of Sarries’ spirit

BRAD Barritt paid tribute to his team-mates – and looked forward to playing the semi-final in France alongside them. “This team has been built on hard work, adversity and resilience,” he said. “It showed true Saracens spirit today. There has been setback after setback in our team, both mentally and physically, but the togetherness of this group shone through.” The 34-year-old skipper, who will depart at the end of this season after leading the club to their three previous European Cup titles, added that the display “was a lovely connection of our strengths”. He said: “Physically, we wanted to be aggressive in every collision, with and without the ball. “We won the contact against this Leinster team who have been formidable this season, and it proved the vital stroke.” Barritt said that the squad was driven on “by the prospect of having another week together”. He continued: “We owed it to ourselves to have a big game that meant something to us. We’ve had to show a huge amount of character playing games that didn’t mean anything, and this was about playing for something tangible – and I could not be more proud of my team.” Saracens DoR Mark McCall said: “This group of players never ceases to amaze. “That they could produce a performance of that quality says a lot about them. We will have to do it again next week in France and it is another opportunity for us.” Leinster head coach Leo Cullen said his side were disappointed. “We were very poor first-half – we gave away penalties which allowed them to build a lead, and didn’t capitalise on our chances. Our boys did well to fight their way back, but it was a frustrating game because we didn’t feel we gave a full account of ourselves.”