Skipper Jackson Wray hailed his Saracens charges for bouncing back from defeat at the first time of asking, after the former English and European champions kick-started their Championship campaign with a 45-13 win over Jersey Reds. 

Sarries went down 25-17 at Cornish Pirates in the first round of the shortened season, which will see each of the 11 teams play each other once before the top two play off for promotion to the Gallagher Premiership. 

Mark McCall’s men were back at the races at the StoneX Stadium with Alex Lewington and Elliott Obatoyinbo both helping themselves to braces, while Duncan Taylor, Rotimi Segun and Wray also crossed for tries. 

Wray was pleased with the attitude shown by the Londoners, revealing that the previous week’s disappointment had been used as fuel for a return to success. 

“It was tough at the start of the week,” said Wray, 30. “We had some honest chats about where we are and what we wanted to be, but I thought our attitude and our application was brilliant today. 

“It was a lot more like it. I thought we were much more confrontational, and much more like the team we want to be. 

“We know when we play like that we’re really difficult to come up against, and for the group it was a really big positive step going forward.”

Despite scoring seven tries en route to a comfortable victory, Jack Macfarlane’s score for Jersey hinted at areas where Saracens can still improve throughout the remainder of the Championship season. 

Having plunged from Europe’s elite into the second tier Wray admits Saracens are still adapting to their new surroundings, but is confident they will continue building with an away clash against Richmond next in store. 

He added: “There were still things that didn’t go quite right for us - we didn’t get some of the outcomes at set-piece time - but I thought we stuck in it really well, we fought back well, and when things didn’t go our way we kept battling. 

“It didn’t go perfectly, but there was a lot of intent in there, a lot of what we’re about at Saracens, and it’s a performance that we can be proud of. 

“In this league I think you’ve got to do that. You’ve got to be resilient and continue to have the intent to go forward. I thought we had that, and I look forward to us continuing to work and build.”