WE clearly came off second best in Friday night’s 37-13 Aviva Premiership defeat to Harlequins, but sometimes you just have to take your hat off to the opposition.

We have to be honest with ourselves and the intensity they played at and the speed of the ball they created was just better than us.

In the first 15 to 20 minutes, we were competetive, but they put so much pressure on us that the floodgates opened and it was very difficult for us then.

Our discipline was poor again, but the reason for that was down to the pressure we were under and we just couldn’t live with that intensity.

It was tough and the only consolation was that we showed a bit of character in the second-half.

But we won’t get carried away with that because the game was lost by then and we had to work hard just to not be disgraced.

I dread to think what the possession stats would have been in the first-half, so we were under the pump, even though our defence was heroic at times.

Of course, that takes it out of you and the boys were absolutely knackered and hanging on.

So, when you do get the ball then, you have nothing left in you to attack with and you come off second best when you’re attacking too.

We have to look at the reasons why they were so dominant and why they had so much possession and try to improve our defence in terms of putting more pressure on teams and not allowing them time on the ball.

Where we are at now is that we’re confident we’re going in the right direction.

I know that might seem hard for people from the outside to agree with because of the results, but we can’t allow the emotion of these defeats to cloud us.

We will continue to show commitment and pride in the jersey and, as disappointed as we were with that scoreline, I don’t think people could question that and we didn’t give in at all.

Quins were the better team — we hold our hands up to that — and we have to get better.

But I don’t think we will ever be a team to give in.

I’d also like to say how impressed us players were with the support we got from the fans.

Although it was a disappointing result for everyone, the supporters kept getting behind us throughout the game and that meant a lot to all of us.

Hopefully they can keep the faith and we will give them something to really cheer about soon.

I’m new to this league and it’s a learning curve for me — every game in the Aviva Premiership is tough and that will be the same at Wasps this weekend.

Instead of trying to hang on by our finger nails, we have to look at the bigger picture and look at what aspects of our game are falling down and where we can improve.