Conor O'Shea has paid tribute to Harlequins' fighting spirit following their 17-10 victory over Wasps at The Stoop on Saturday.
Boss hails battling Quins
Conor O'Shea has paid tribute to Harlequins' fighting spirit following their 17-10 victory over Wasps at The Stoop on Saturday.
The win saw Quins move into fourth place in the Aviva Premiership and added to a highly successful post-Christmas run that has also seen them beat London Irish and Northampton.
And director of rugby O'Shea believes that, with 21 of Saturday's 23-man matchday squad England-qualified, they will continue to improve.
"The first half was a cracking game of rugby from both sides," he said.
"And then for 40 minutes of the second half we just did not have the ball, couldn't get out of our half and you credit that to Wasps.
Stronger
"Our guys were tired and when you are defending, defending, defending, it becomes harder and harder.
"But we are delighted - three wins over Christmas against London Irish, Northampton and Wasps is a pretty good return for us."
"We feel we are going to get stronger and stronger as a team this year and in years to come and we can play better rugby than we did today.
"But we're where we wanted to be. We're also in the mix in the LV and the Amlin and we have a few tired bodies after this Christmas because they've given a huge amount.
"Defence reflects attitude and you just cannot question what this team mean and do for one another.
"They were out on their feet, quite frankly, and it's tough to keep on coming back but I'm so proud of them and what they have done over this Christmas."
Panicked
O'Shea's counterpart at Wasps, Tony Hanks, blamed a lack of composure for his side's failure to convert their chances, and admitted his men panicked towards the end of the derby clash.
"We lacked composure a couple of times when we created breaks and opportunities," he said.
"We had enough possession, our forwards did enough in terms of set-piece to give us the platform to win the game, but we forced a couple of chances and there were a couple of knock-ons.
"The last three or four minutes were disappointing for us in that we probably just panicked a little bit and were trying to score off every pass."
"It was tough conditions out there and you've got to give them credit. I thought they defended really well in that second half when we threw a lot at them."
Wasps coach Edwards added: "Our defence wasn't good enough. Two tries came from turnovers and we didn't react quickly enough."