Saracens head coach Buck Shelford described the disastrous 14-12 defeat at home to London Irish on Sunday as "the worst performance since I have been here."

The Men in Black were sunk by an injury-time penalty from Barry Everitt that leaves them without a league win since December 29 and with just three games left to avoid the threat of relegation which, on this dismal evidence, remains a distinct possibility.

"It was very disappointing," said Shelford, in remarkably upbeat mood after watching his side slump to their seventh straight defeat in all competitions.

"It was probably the worst performance since I have been here and there is plenty of work to do. The guys just didn't front up today. Irish came along but they weren't much better but they got the points at the end of the day which count.

"If you can't look after your own ball your not going to win and we turned over the ball too many times and our set-piece didn't work well," continued the Kiwi. "We have been working very hard on our line-out and scrum over the last two weeks when the internationals have been away but it's in the heat of the game that you actually find out if it's going to work."

Given the financial consequences of relegation to Division One, Saracens appeared edgy from the outset and lacked composure in an error-ridden and languid performance.

"You don't get paid to be nervous," came Shelford's retort. "They are professionals and have been for while. You can understand it from the younger guys but not from the older guys. They are all in good physical shape but I think a lot of it comes down to the desire to win."

Despite the costly defeat Shelford refuses to push any panic buttons.

"We can't change the past but we can change the future. Yes we are losing but it's about what we can do about it in the future. Confidence inside the team itself is very high and the team spirit is very good but it's just little things that are letting the team down. I think their discipline leaves a lot to be desired at times."

It was a lack of discipline from Robbie Russell that proved the turning point of this relegation battle. After Irish were awarded an injury-time penalty just inside their own half for offside, the Scotish hooker inexplicably kicked the ball away and allowed the ball to be moved forward ten metres and within range for the deadly Everitt, who held his nerve to slot over a match-winning kick from 50 metres.

"I'll sit him down and have a talk to him," said the rather calm Kiwi. "The player will know he has done wrong and he'll be low as it is and you've just got to build him up again. It's about building them up, not knocking them down. They know they make mistakes, they get reminded every time they watch the video but they don't do it.

"Discipline is a key and if you haven't got it you are going to lose. There are Test matches won and lost in the last 30 seconds of a game. I've seen the All Blacks lose twice to Australia in the last play of the game."

Shelford, a former captain of the All Blacks, was also far from happy with the performance of referee Ashley Rowden.

"He didn't have a good game but it's the same for both sides. There were a lot of decisions in there that were pretty average. We've just got to play to the referees rulings on the day and I think Venter did a little bit better than our guys."

April 7, 2003 11:30