Mark McCall urged Saracens to use the pain from their record 68-10 English Premiership defeat on Saturday against Bath as fuel to get back on track.
The six-time English champions endured their worst ever loss in the top tier as leaders Bath ran riot at the Recreation Ground.
Saracens conceded 10 tries as they collapsed following the sending-off of flanker Toby Knight after just 14 minutes, while Nick Isiekwe and Theo McFarland suffered game-ending injuries.
Saracens rugby director McCall admitted the devastating loss was a major setback, but he still expects a strong response from his shell-shocked players.
“Today is a big moment because when these thunderbolts come along, it is how you respond to it which defines the rest of the season,” he said.
“The experience is ugly and horrible, to be honest. We were disappointed with how we reacted to being down to 14 men, but there were a lot of moving parts with the injuries we got.
“It is a younger group, and they are not accustomed to being on the back of something like that. It will sting for the weekend, but we have got to get back together.”
Bath earned an early penalty try before Thomas du Toit, Cameron Redpath and Will Muir touched down, while Finn Russell kicked three conversions.
Joe Cokanasiga scored two tries after the interval, with Ollie Lawrence and Sam Underhill also touching down as Muir completed his hat-trick, while Russell booted five more conversions.
Kapeli Pifeleti’s late try and a Fergus Burke penalty and conversion were no consolation for overwhelmed Saracens.
Bath are five points clear at the top of the Premiership ahead of a trip to reigning champions Northampton on January 5.
Northampton will be in fine fettle for that clash after Trevor Davison scored two tries against his former club in a 61-0 rout of Newcastle.
The Saints had lost their last three league games, leaving them well adrift of the pace-setters.
However, they ran away with the game in the first half with two-cap Wallaby Josh Kemeny amongst the try-scorers in a dominant display.
Kemeny’s try just before the half hour mark gave them a 35-0 lead as they gave Newcastle little chance of a comeback.
“We’ve had periods of this sort of quality throughout the season. We’re a very capable group, we just haven’t been able to do it more,” Northampton director of rugby Phil Dowson said.
Dan Cole’s last-gap try salvaged a dramatic 34-34 draw for Leicester against Harlequins in front of a sell-out crowd at Twickenham.
Harlequins were on course for victory when Cadan Murley ran in the second of his two tries in the 69th minute.
But Leicester used their pack to pound away as Cole crept over with a minute left before Handre Pollard booted the crucial conversion in off the post.
