SARACENS boss Alan Gaffney has heaped praise upon wing Noah Cato after the 19-year-old scored a try on his shock Premiership debut in Sarries' 31-7 triumph over struggling Leeds Carnegie yesterday (Sunday).

The England U20 flyer travelled with the squad as 23rd man but was soon called upon when Francisco Leonelli tweaked a calf in the pre-match warm-up. Edd Thrower reverted to full-back while Cato stepped in on the left flank.

Cato crossed the line in the second half adding to first half scores from centre Rodd Penney and wing Richard Haughton, making his first start of the season.

Lock Hugh Vyvyan ensured the bonus point for Sarries with another easy drive to the line while Gordon Ross notched three conversions and a penalty against his former employers. Glen Jackson replaced Ross late in the second half and marked his return to full fitness by converting Vyvyan's score.

However, it was the rise to prominence of Cato which had Gaffney salivating for more. "Cato is as raw as can be but he's only been playing rugby for two or three years," said the director of rugby. "He's already made the England U20 squad but he's still learning the game.

"The one thing he has got is unbridled pace and that's a useful thing to have. He's agile, is a big boy and plays with no fear."

Gaffney placed a lot of emphasis on the word raw' when describing Cato, the latest star off the club's academy production line, insisting he still has plenty to learn.

"He still doesn't really understand the game, and that's not a criticism," added the Aussie. "His positional play still needs correcting but he's only been in the game for a short space of time. So to throw him into the Premiership is a fairly difficult learning curve.

"When he did get the ball he went for a few outside breaks whether he should or should not have, but at least the boy was positive in what he tried to do."

While admitting he was happy with the result Gaffney was left scratching his head at his side's sloppy finishing, epitomised by shocking missed chances from Edd Thrower, twice, and Rodd Penney.

"We created a lot of opportunities but our accuracy in finishing things off was obviously disappointing," said Gaffney. "We're not going to get away with that against the elite teams, so we've got to make sure we take the opportunities when we create them.

"We didn't play as well as we could have done, but to give Leeds their due they fought hard all day and I was delighted to see them scoring a try at the end. To come away and get a bonus point up here means we're very happy with the result."

Gaffney, who expects Leonelli to shake off the calk strain in time for Saturday's trip to Worcester, admits injuries have hindered Sarries' start to the season but has ruled out bringing in any more new faces in the short term.

"Backs-wise we're still very, very short," he admitted. "We won't get Moses (Rauluni, scrum half) back this week, but we've only ever had two half backs which is a great worry, so we're running on the bones of our back-side as far as 9s are concerned.

"We're also missing Andy Farrell, Kevin Sorrell, Dan Scarbrough and Brent Russell, so you can see we are fairly shy."

One man Gaffney was delighted to see back in action is prolific fly-half Glen Jackson, who made his first appearance of the season at Headingley since picking up an ankle knock in the final week of pre-season.

"We gave Jacko no rest last season when he played 35 games out of 37, so how he lasted the season is a mystery," said Gaffney. "But having Gordon Ross in means we can swap them around and that is going to be beneficial to us.

"We've got to ease Jacko back in as there is no point in throwing him back into a full game at this point in time. We know we will get a lot out of him during the season."