Saracens ‘have to learn’ from surprise defeat to Bristol Bears

The loss was confirmed by Ian Madigan’s last-gasp penalty and means Saracens are now well adrift of Exeter Chiefs in second.

Bristol meanwhile did their hopes of avoiding relegation the power of good, moving 11 points clear of basement club Newcastle Falcons.

Sarries, however, will need to look at their own performance ahead of their massive Heineken Champions Cup semi-final with Munster in Coventry on Saturday.

Speaking to the club’s website, Bosch said: “It’s hard to win a game like this when you make a lot of mistakes.

“We showed resilience in the first half with how we defended our line. In the second half we had some chances that were concrete but sadly we couldn’t win the game.

“We know how tough this competition is and if you don’t show up every week and play your best then these things happen against a team that is fighting for survival.

“We have to learn why we weren’t the team we normally are. I’m sure we will learn from our mistakes and we’ll be back next week where hopefully we’ll get a result in the semi-final.”

The game at Ashton Gate had started well for the Men in Black with Max Malins instrumental in their early attacking forays.

One break by the former Old Albanian on nine minutes brought the opening try, Tom Whiteley taking the final pass before running in unchallenged.

Callum Sheedy added a penalty for Bristol on 12 minutes and another before half-time reduced the gap to one.

And the deficit was totally wiped out shortly after the restart, Steve Luatua scoring the try and Sheedy adding the conversion.

The arrival of Saracens’ big guns in the forwards had an instant impact, Bosch scoring from a driving maul, but Bristol had soon regained the lead with a Dan Thomas score.

But Saracens seemed to have won it with Harpenden’s Ralph Adams-Hale’s first try for the club with 12 minutes to go. That was converted by Alex Goode, who had kicked the two others.

However, Madigan had the last word.