SHOW the same hunger and desire in the next two games and you can achieve anything - that is the message Alan Gaffney has delivered to his Saracens players as they close in on a possible league and cup double.
The Men in Black's victory over Harlequins on Sunday lifted them to third in the Guinness Premiership and the same outcome in their final game at struggling Worcester Warriors in a fortnight will cement a play-off spot.
But director of rugby Gaffney refuses to get carried away by talk of the league title and is instead turning his attentions to this Sunday's European Challenge Cup semi-final clash with Bath.
"We're not even thinking about the Worcester game yet," said the Aussie. "We're just going from game to game - that's exactly what we've been doing in recent weeks. We've now got to concentrate on Bath as it would be fantastic to make the finals of the European Challenge Cup.
"However, we've still got to win our last league game at Worcester. They are playing for their lives but equally we've got as much to gain as they have. The only result we have to rely on is ours, which is a fantastic position to be in. If we want it enough we will achieve it."
Gaffney was delighted with the bonus point victory over their London neighbours - securing the first double over them since the 2000/01 season - and insisted it could have been a whitewash had it not been for some wayward finishing. "We should have scored three tries in the first ten minutes," he added. "I thought we played some pretty good rugby although we nearly committed suicide before half time.
"They players knew they were playing well but again we were just not accurate enough. We weren't putting the ball in front of the man, we were putting it in front of his body. We just weren't as precise as we should have been and we cannot afford to do that. We coughed up two pretty soft tries but we worked particularly hard for the four we scored.
"It was always going to be a tough game. Quins have had a pretty good year and have some young, exciting players coming through. I like the way they try and play the game."
Gaffney also revealed that skipper Simon Raiwalui will be fit to face Bath after the strapping second rower was helped off the pitch in the second half, partly due to heat exhaustion.
"He picked up an infection during the week and finished up with an abcess on his calf, which was lanced on Thursday," said Gaffney. "He's still full of drugs to get rid of the infection and, with the heat, it just took its effect. He'll spend a night in hospital (Sunday night) where they'll put an IV (intravenous drip) on him to get the fluid into his body."
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