RUGBY UNION: Jackson Wray turned in a man-of-the-match performance as Saracens ended their losing run to defeat Leicester Tigers in the Aviva Premiership.

Sarries defeat Tigers 29-17 at Welford Road on Christmas Eve, with former King John School pupil Wray outshining a host of England internationals to be named BT Sport’s man-of-the-match.

And Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall heaped praise on Wray, after admitting he was relieved to see his side break their seven-match losing run - with former Southend Saxons loanee Jamie George also crossing for a try in the victory.

McCall said: “Jackson Wray has been one of most consistent performers and he was outstanding today but I thought we were good across the board with Ben Spencer impressing and Marcelo Bosch handling (Manu) Tuilagi very well.

“It was a confident display from us as we were good with or without the ball and our penalty count was very low.

“We did leave a couple of tries out there but we were in control and I didn’t think the red card [to Leicester’s Jonny May] affected the result in any way.

“Obviously I’m glad that we are back to winning ways but I thought we were never far away from victory. Apart from the Clermont game we were ahead in nearly all the games including tough fixtures against the likes of Exeter and Gloucester.”

Saracens return to action on Saturday afternoon, when they welcome Worcester Warriors to Allianz Park in their final game of 2017.