Leinster captain Jamie Heaslip has said his pack got beaten up in their 24-18 loss to Harlequins, and that they have a lot to work to do ahead of the return clash next Saturday in Dublin.
Speaking after the defeat at the Stoop, Heaslip was frank about his disappointment and his impatience at trying to rectify the situation.
“We talked inside. We’ve got a lot to do,” Heaslip said. The way it is after a loss like that, you just want to, you want to play tomorrow, almost.”
Leinster struggled to contain Quins' pack, particularly in the scrum, and Heaslip wasn’t hiding away from the issue.
“I thought we gave them a lot of access points to the game, through penalties,” he said.
“As a pack, we kind of lost out today. I think we got beaten up a little bit, especially around the set-pieces.”
Heaslip insisted Leinster weren’t surprised by Harlequins’ physicality and said his side’s defence had been good for the most part.
“Bar an intercept try there’s not much between the sides,” he said.
“However, we’re really disappointed. We gave them some easy points in the first half to make it 9-9. Some silly errors on our behalf, in terms of discipline. Especially when we were down in their half, we gave them some outlets, you know, through penalties. So, it’s quite frustrating.
“We did a lot of good, I thought. We launched well at times, and carried well when we got into our shape. We’ve got a lot to work on and got a lot to do in the six-day turnaround.”
