London Welsh 13-38 Leicester Tigers, Aviva Premiership
Mills: We showed them too much respect
September 2, 2012
Leicester lock Geoff Parling claims a lineout, London Welsh v Leicester Tigers, Aviva Premiership, Kassam Stadium, Oxford, England, September 2, 2012
Geoff Parling claimed a try and the Man of the Match honour © Getty Images
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London Welsh skipper Jonathan Mills admitted that his side may have shown Leicester "a bit too much respect" in their Aviva Premiership opener.

The Exiles were beaten 38-13 in Oxford on Sunday and turned in a nervy first 20 minutes before scoring twice before the break.

The Tigers were able to pull clear in the second-half and finished with six tries - two to Thomas Waldrom and further scores to Geoff Parling, Julian Salvi and Vereniki Goneva - but Mills hopes his side will learn some lessons before meeting Harlequins next weekend.

"It was slightly different from the Championship, but there were a lot of positives to take from the game. Hopefully we can move on and be ready for Friday against Quins," Mills told Sky Sports.

"Maybe we showed them a bit too much respect. We didn't hold on to the ball when we had chances and probably played a bit too much in our own half. There are lessons to be learned and we'll move on from there.

"I think it showed that there's a lot of determination in the squad and that we're up for the fight. It's a long season and it's tough to start with Leicester and then Quins, but we're going to give it our best shot."

Parling finished with the Man of the Match honour as well as a try, and admitted at full-time that there's more to come from the Tigers.

"We always knew it was going to be difficult at first, especially in the first-half," he said. "They came out flying and fair play to them, they were firing in at every breakdown and making it a real contest for the ball.

"It was always going to be a difficult contest at first, but we always knew that if we kept plugging away, our fitness and our gameplan would come together in the end. There's still lots to improve on, it's a good start but there's still a long way to go."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

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