Sunday 26 March 2017 19:26, UK
Chris Ashton will have caught the attention of British and Irish Lions selectors after scoring two tries in a 53-10 victory over Bath, according to Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall.
Ashton crossed twice in the final 10 minutes as the double winners ran amok in an eight-try Aviva Premiership rout at Allianz Park, scoring 36 points without reply.
Warren Gatland names his squad for the summer tour to New Zealand on April 19 and McCall insists Toulon-bound Ashton, along with Scotland wing Sean Maitland who also scored, should be under consideration.
"Chris was really good, you could see what a clever rugby player he is," McCall said.
"He did a lot of things in the game that people don't give him credit for in terms of the attacking kicks used and where he pops up.
"Sean Maitland on our other wing was also good and the two of them gave performances that Warren Gatland might be interested in.
"Sean got injured during the Six Nations and lost his place in the Scotland team. He was outstanding as well.
"Chris showed enough out there to make people curious and to have a look at him. It was the same with Sean as well."
Saracens flattened Bath in a dominant second half that sounded a statement of intent in their quest to retain their Premiership and Champions Cup titles.
Jamie George, Schalk Brits, Alex Goode, Brad Barritt and Billy Vunipola also scored ahead of next Sunday's European home quarter-final against Glasgow.
"It was a really good performance. It was a bit mixed in the first 50 minutes - we started well into a strong wind," said McCall, who expects lock George Kruis to recover from his knee injury in mid-May.
"We just made a lot of little errors in the second quarter which gave them a bit of a foothold, but the last half an hour is the kind of performance we are after.
"The bench came on and did a fantastic job and we just took our game to a different level in that last half hour. We are going to need that against Glasgow."
Bath crashed to their biggest Premiership defeat in 15 years, but director of rugby Todd Blackadder refuses to give up on finishing in the play-offs.
"That was really disappointing and it's a low, but I believe we're a better team than that, we just need to show it," Blackadder said.
"I think we're mentally strong enough, but you might look at the second half and say no at times. It didn't look like we had a lot of fight when we were going backwards.
"The answers are always within the room. We're not panicking or throwing any playbooks out, but we can't afford any more slip ups.
"Our season isn't over, although this was one of our worst performances. Destiny is still in our hands."
