Harlequins head of rugby Paul Gustard blasted his team’s second half performance after Saracens completed a 27-20 comeback win at the London Stadium on Saturday.

Quins had led 17-6 at half-time thanks to tries from Marcus Smith and Danny Care, with two penalties from Alex Lozowski the only response from an erroneous Saracens outfit.

But Sarries stormed to victory in front of a bumper crowd as Schalk Burger scored after the break before Will Skelton’s double gave his side the win.

With their opponents now possessing a 13-point advantage over his side in the league, Gustard said: "It was a good first 40 minutes, but not even an average second 40. We were almost the worst version of ourselves.

"There was bickering, we got frustrated and our set-piece didn't function. We were clinging on.

"We've got a point and our season isn't defined by Saracens away, but this was frustrating."

The 43-year-old wasn’t totally disheartened by the performance, however, and is looking forward to this Saturday’s European Challenge Cup clash against Worcester Warriors as a chance to bounce back.

“Even in the second half, we came back into the game. It was 20-20 and we just didn’t manage the field positions very well,” he added.

“I’m proud of the way the boys put the effort in but we are all disappointed as a group that we allowed our frustrations to get the better of us and not perform to our maximum.”

Co-captain James Horwill echoed his manager’s exasperation about the collapse, adding: “In the first half we did what we wanted to do but in the second half we were the masters of our own demise.

“The discipline wasn’t good enough – myself included – and we just needed to be better.

“Saracens are a good side and they took advantage of the opportunities we gave them.

“We spoke about the errors we needed to improve on, both individually and in a group – we’ve got to be better than we were today in the second half.”