Mark McCall insists he is not counting Saracens’ Premiership points tally, despite moving within four wins of safety.

The defending champions were hit with a 35-point deduction for breaching salary cap regulations earlier this season but they have remained the domain force this season.

The Londoners have won five of their six games this season and, had they not been hit with a point penalty, they would be top of the current table.

Their latest win signalled their incredible strength as they dismantled Bristol Bears – who were second in the table before heading to Allianz Park – in a 47-13 win.

They crossed for seven tries, including two for full-back Max Malins – one of the emerging stars of the season who McCall likened to New Zealand superstar Beauden Barrett.

Maku Vunipola, Nick Tompkins (2), Ben Earl and Brad Barritt also crossed and McCall insist he is delighted.

"We are not counting points; well I am certainly not looking at the table,” he said after they moved just 17 points off Leicester Tigers.

"I'm actually really pleased with the way we defended in the last 15 minutes because the game was done and won, and I thought we had an appetite not to concede during that period which was really encouraging.

"What I am really pleased about is that we could have been frustrated with the scoreboard after 30 minutes but we stuck to task and kept going and I think all of the points that we scored in the second half were a result of some of the really good work done in the first half."