DEFLATED Saracens boss Alan Gaffney says he was proud of his side's efforts in their hard-to-swallow one-point defeat to Wasps.

The director of rugby could not hide his disappointment at watching his team throw away a great chance of victory at sun-drenched Adams Park.

"I'm obviously disappointed as it was soul-destoying, but we played a lot of good rugby out there," said the director of rugby. "We had control of the game and then lost it through some significant errors.

"With four minutes to go we had a lineout on their 22 and were six points in front. If we are any good we should be able to close the game out from there. We should never have given them the opportunity to score in our territory.

"Overall our defensive effort was very good and they three tries we conceded wasn't a fair reflection of how well we defended in the game."

Gaffney, who confirmed Kameli Ratuvou had suffered a hamstring strain, refused to blame Glen Jackson for missing two penalties which would have firmly shut the door on a Wasps victory before Eoin Reddan seized the initiative with two late tries.

"We can't blame Jacko because he's kicked enormously well for us this year," added the Aussie.

Gaffney and Saracens now turn their attentions to the home clash with Harlequins next Sunday.

"We can't go through a grieving process and think about what might have been - we've got to examine ourselves, be harsh on ourselves, work out why we didn't win the game and how we could have done things better," he said.

"We've got to keep our chins up and move on. We can't sit and reflect what happened. We've got Harlequins next week and have to go out and do a job against them.

"Quins set themselves top six this year and their win over London Irish has put them in a position where they can achieve that."

While delighted with his side's victory, Wasps skipper Lawrence Dallaglio was full of admiration for the gallant losers.

"They are the form team in the Premiership and under Alan Gaffney are a much tougher side to break down than they have been in the past," said the former England star. "They have really improved. Good luck to them."