Gustard: Crucial areas let us down

HARLEQUINS boss Paul Gustard acknowledged his side had come off second best in two key areas.

“The long and the short of it is their nine and ten controlled the game better than we did, and in the end their lineout got on top of us as well,” he said.

“We’ve got to look at how we’re giving people opportunities to get in our final third, to give them opportunities to score.

“With gusts of up to 58mph, heavy rain, wet hands, wet ball, wet shirt – it’s tricky. But they didn’t do anything in their attack either.

“One of their tries came from a loose kick, the second was a simple nine-ten thing when we man watched and it was an easy enough try. The third try was a charge down.”

Gustard added: “So we’re frustrated and deeply disappointed of course. We had aspirations to move further up the league. But it’s so tough, if you’re one per cent off you end up losing by ten or 15 points, and that’s kind of what happened today.”

An unsettling first 40 for Quins full-back Morris stymied any chance of gaining rhythm when aided by a tailwind after the interval. It was the reverse for Exiles 15 Loader who, after representing England through the age grades, looks well on his way to reaching full honours. On this evidence Loader looks ahead in the battle to rival George Furbank and Anthony Watson for an England place