WELSH head coach Lyn Jones praised Gavin Henson’s “influential” Premiership debut.

But he said it was too early to judge the fly half’s form.

Jones said: “His performance was very good, his kicking game was hugely influential.

“We all saw that pass and thought “what the hell’s he doing”, fantastic that’s the way.

“When a player comes back from injury and hasn’t played for several months you cannot be exacting or heavy on judging someone’s performance.

“We have to give them time to grow back into the game.

“He was influential in us getting the bonus point today.”

Asked if Henson was proving to be the player he had hoped for, Jones added: “There’s the player on the field, the player in training and the player in the clubhouse and at the moment he is ticking all the boxes.

Jones said he was heartened by the backline performance, but admitted his forwards had been below par.

“To play as badly as we did and come away with the bonus point is a plus,” he said.

And he said six games into the Premiership campaign, Oxford had started to feel like home.

“The people of Oxford have been fantastic, they have come to the Kassam and they have got behind us,” he said.

“Home is familiarity. There is a routine when you arrive and when you leave. It is a godsend we have got so many home games early in the season.”

Saracens director of Rugby Mark McCall admitted his side had made heavy work of a game they had dominated.

And he was impressed by the returning Henson: “I thought he played well. I thought it was written in the stars he would kick a touchline conversion to beat Sarries, but thankfully that wasn’t the case.”