Blair: "I was delighted with the effort."

• 11 February 2022
• Reactions

Get reaction from Head Coach Mike Blair following Edinburgh's 26-7 defeat to Leinster at the RDS Arena in Round 8 of the United Rugby Championship.

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On the difference between the two sides

"We're really frustrated in the changing room. We thought we played some really good stuff, but it was fairly obvious the difference between the two teams. When Leinster got inside our 22m, they usually came away with points.

"When we got pressure in the Leinster 22m, we didn't come away with points, and then our only try came from a breakaway, so fair play to Leinster, they were really ruthless in that area, and it's something we need to get better at.

On turning down points

"I don't think we should have just taken points, what we've done so far this season is backed ourselves to come away with points when we get in those situations. It didn't happen tonight against a strong Leinster team.

"I know they've got a lot of guys missing, but that's still a strong team out there. We've got players missing as well, but I was delighted with the effort the guys showed throughout the match.

"I was saying in the changing room, the match is decided by what happens in the 22m. I suppose the aim of the game is to score more points and they did that well.

On next week's challenge

"We've got Munster next week. The main learning we'll take out of tonight's game is what happened in attack, and specifically the 22m - how we can break that game up a little bit.

"We're good when we've got momentum, but we need to find that momentum in different ways."