Dan McKellar, Leicester Tigers’ head coach, has responded to his team’s 27-25 defeat over Gloucester in Round 13 of the Gallagher Premiership.
A late Stephen Varney try was the difference on a poor night for the Tigers.
McKellar stated, “Gloucester did a lot of good things.” We started well but didn’t get anything out of it, and now it’s 3-8.”
“We showed a lot of courage by returning to our strength, mauling incredibly well, and regaining the lead.
“They won a lot of possession on the ground tonight, a lot of loose ball off kicks, and we didn’t defend as well as we could have.
“In terms of collisions, I just thought we were a touch off the speed, especially around the breakdown. We didn’t turn over a lot of balls; we’re just watching it live; there’s a continual message from the box about our speed and clear out.
“Defensively, we allowed them to offload, and they won a loose ball on the ground; it takes effort to be desperate and desire to win.
“All of a sudden it’s an unstructured situation and players like (Zach) Mercer thrive off of that and they got field position and took their opportunities.”
The return and performance of scrumhalf Jack van Poortvliet provided a silver lining.
