For London Irish, it was far too early in the season for them to be considered all-conquering. But having won ten matches on the bounce before pitching up to play Saracens on Saturday, they were rightly regarded as the form team in the Guinness Premiership and potential champions in the making. In truth, they still are.

But after a battle of attrition in which the home team narrowly came out on top by 16-13, it was Eddie Jones, the director of rugby at Saracens, who talked up his side's chances of finishing the year as champions and thus provided a neat contrast to Toby Booth, Irish's deflated head coach, who refused to put such pressure on himself or his team.

Jones, as might be expected of a former Australia World Cup coach, has a nice line in bluster. In all honesty, it is hard to imagine his side touching the heights this season - five wins and five defeats in the Premiership has a nice symmetry but does not suggest anything other than a mid-table team - but Jones is bringing on some fine young English players and should be applauded for doing so.

“I don't subscribe to the theory that you don't promote young players,” Jones said. “At certain stages this year they are going to struggle, but we need to believe that the way we are playing the game and the talent we have in the team is good enough to win the competition.

“London Irish are the top team in the league and we beat them. So there's no reason why we cannot go on [and win the title]. There have been stages this year where we've become a bit frantic in the last ten minutes, but this week we didn't do that.”

Among his Young Turks singled out by Jones for special mention were Alex Goode, 20, Adam Powell, 21, and Noah Cato, 20, in the backs and Andy Saull, 20, and Tom Mercey, 21, in the forwards, with all except for Mercey playing at the weekend.

“They're all playing first-team rugby and though they're prone to the odd mistake, there's a lot of youthful exuberance coming through the club,” Jones said. “It's great for the club and for English rugby. And when you throw in battle-hardened Test veterans like Wikus Van Heerden and Steve Borthwick [the England captain], it's a really nice mix we're getting together. We've got a long way to go, but we're getting there.”

This was not the most entertaining of matches for the 16,000 crowd at Vicarage Road, but Saracens deserve credit for denying the Exiles the possession on which they thrive. There was little quick ball for the visiting team to work with. They lacked rhythm and made numerous unforced errors.

A sign of how dangerous London Irish could be came with one of their few pieces of clean possession in the first half after Glen Jackson had kicked loosely, straight into the arms of Sailosi Tagicakibau. The left wing set off on a jinking run before linking up with Peter Hewat, who fed inside for Declan Danaher to touch down.

But when Moses Rauluni, a last-minute call-up at scrum half for the unwell Neil de Kock, evaded three tackles to cross the line for Saracens in the 31st minute, the match looked as if it could go either way. At half-time, Saracens led 13-10 and with just a penalty apiece in the second half, the home side claimed a hard-fought victory.

Hewat had missed a chance to pull his side level with a relatively straightforward penalty attempt with four minutes to go and Booth was left wondering where his cutting edge had gone.

“We contributed to our own downfall,” he said. And it was difficult to argue with him. He will, however, experience better days than this.

Scorers: Saracens: Try: Rauluni (31min). Conversion: Jackson (31min). Penalty goals: Jackson 3 (18, 24, 60). London Irish: Try: Danaher (19). Conversion: Hewat. Penalty goals: Hewat 2 (27, 53).

Scoring sequence (Saracens first): 3-0, 3-5, 3-7, 6-7, 6-10, 11-10, 13-10 (half-time), 13-13, 16-13.

Saracens: A Goode; K Ratuvou, K Sorrell, A Powell (rep: A Farrell, 75), N Cato; G Jackson, M Rauluni; N Lloyd, F Ongaro, C Johnston, S Borthwick, C Jack, W van Heerden, A Saull (rep: B Skirving, 73), M Owen.

London Irish: P Hewat; T Ojo, E Seveali'I, S Mapusua, S Tagicakibau (rep: M Catt, 61); S Geraghty, P Hodgson (rep: A Lalanne, 73); C Dermody (rep: D Murphy, 63), D Paice (rep: DCoetzee, 62), T Lea'aetoa (rep: A Corbisiero, 52), J Hudson (rep: K Roche 52), B Casey, D Danaher, S Armitage, CHala'ufia (rep: R Thorpe, 75).

Referee: C White. Attendance: 16,082.