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Dan McKellar: 'After playing the best two teams in Europe, it was a tough ask'
Leicester director of rugby Dan McKellar said his side are now “well and truly back in the hunt” in the Premiership after battling to a 20-19 win over Harlequins at a sold-out Stoop.
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After heavy European defeats to La Rochelle and Leinster, Tigers badly needed a boost and Friday’s four-point haul keeps them in contention for a play-off spot when the Premiership resumes after the upcoming Six Nations break.
Leicester were outscored 3-2 in terms of tries and were indebted to Quins fly-half Jarrod Evans missing an eminently kickable conversion of Tyrone Green’s late try, but McKellar felt his side deserved that fortune and admitted defeat would have been “shattering and demoralising”.
He said: “After playing the best two teams in Europe, it was a tough ask to come here with just a six-day turnaround.
“The game was massively important and we are well and truly back in the hunt in terms of the Premiership.
“I was disappointed that it came down to the final kick as we should have wrapped up the game long before that as I thought we played really well tonight.
“It would have been shattering and demoralising if we had lost but we deserved a bit of luck as we certainly didn’t get any last week against Leinster.
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“We will take a lot of confidence from that as our kicking game was outstanding and our defensive pressure was impressive.”
Jasper Wiese and Mike Brown scored Leicester’s tries with Handre Pollard kicking two penalties and two conversions.
Nick David, Jack Walker and Green crossed for Harlequins with Evans adding two conversions, but they badly missed the experience of midfield triumvirate Alex Dombrandt, Danny Care and Marcus Smith as they struggled for continuity throughout the game.
Quins assistant coach Danny Wilson was still full of praise for Wales international Evans despite his late miss.
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He said: “He’s been out for a long time with an injury and was thrown in at the deep end.
“He had a bang on his knee early on and as a result had pain in his kicking foot.
Match Summary 
0
Penalty Goals
2
3
Tries
2
2
Conversions
2
0
Drop Goals
0
119
Carries
124
5
Line Breaks
5
20
Turnovers Lost
10
5
Turnovers Won
3
“He was finding holes in the opposition defence so we decided to keep him out there and he fronted up by taking on the last kick.
“However we made too many errors tonight as we had a lot of different combinations so we lacked cohesion.
“They had more experience than we did in the crucial areas and won the aerial battle as when they kicked, more often than not they got the ball back.
“We can’t fault the effort and spirit to get back into the game but at this moment, it’s frustrating and stinging.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Now if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
37 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
1 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
33 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
5 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
33 Go to comments