Worcester coach Richard Hill said Andy Goode was distraught at his sending off against Leicester - but did not blame the fly-half for the defeat.
Warriors coach absolves fly-half of blame for heavy defeat
Worcester coach Richard Hill said Andy Goode was distraught at his sending off against Leicester - but did not blame the fly-half for the defeat.
Warriors went down 43-13 at Welford Road after former Tigers player Goode was dismissed for a clumsy high tabkle on Tom Croft five minutes before the break.
But despite having to play with 14 men for 45 minutes Hill said the former England No 10 should not be too hard on himself.
"He has let the players down to an extent but you can't blame anyone, it was one of those things," he said.
"Andy wouldn't have wished to do that at his previous ground. Andy is distraught, he is really disappointed about it and he has apologised to the players.
"It was pretty tough after that. Once down to 14 men we had to reshuffle and at half-time we put a 10 on and we were down to seven forwards.
"It was hard all night. Leicester were exceptionally good in patches and I think we did as well as we could."
No worries
Hill said he was not worried about being dragged back into a relegation dogfight after Newcastle's win at home to Sale.
"That's not a worry to me," he added. "I don't think many people would have had us down to win at Welford Road. We just wanted to give a good account of ourselves.
"Most people would have had Newcastle down to win at home to Sale. Although we are not mathematically secure yet but we have got two home games and we are unbeaten at Sixways.
"We will regroup and make sure we are at full throttle against Exeter."
Opposite number Richard Cockerill was not totally happy with Leicester's performance despite the one-sdided nature of the match.
"It was disjointed and hard to play against a side that did not come to play," he said.
"We were inaccurate for large parts of the game which was frustrating but job done, it's five points.
"We don't want to use up our best performances in games like these, we want to save them for the big ones."
Cockerill admitted Goode's challenge was rash - but not malicious.
"I know Andy very well, he played here for a long time," he added. "I'm sure it's not the way he would have liked to come back and have that happen so it's disappointing for him.
"Hopefully the red card will be sufficient and he can play the rest of the season."
