Saracens have pledged not to give up hope of qualifying from Pool 2 despite trailing leaders Leinster by eight points after losing their eight match unbeaten Heineken Cup home run to them at Wembley Stadium.
The English Premiership side hit back from 11 points down, and the blow of losing outside half Derick Hougaard to a suspected ruptured Achilles, to close to within two points at the end and pick up a losing bonus point.
But their first defeat in five outings at Wembley Stadium still leaves them bottom of the Pool with back-to-back games against Racing Metro 92 to come in December.
"Anybody we play against we can smash. There are still a lot of points out there and we will go for every team we play against - the more we play the hungrier we get," said Saracens coach Brendan Venter.
"We are in this for the long haul. We are already a good team, but we want to become a great side.
"Tactically, Leinster were better than us in the air and they kicked the ball better than us. We were naïve - we had a couple of opportunities in the first half and didn't take them and we were killing them when we got behind them.
"My team played all the rugby and Leinster kicked everything back. Maybe, tactically, we should do the same as Leinster and kick everything.
"The IRB have said they will benefit the team that has the ball but that didn't happen today."
South African international Hougaard was carried off on a stretcher early in the second half and could miss much of the remainder of the season if his injury is as serious as first feared.
"Derick is a world class outside half and his injury is a massive set-back for the club. But the team is about more than one player and we will survive the loss of Derick as we did with Steve Borthwick before."
