Gloucester forward Junior Paramore defended himself in the face of a furious verbal attack by Northampton rugby director John Steele.

Saints boss Steele slammed the Samoan following his high tackle on Andrew Blowers during Northampton's 22-9 Premiership defeat at Kingsholm.

But Paramore, who was sin-binned by referee Tony Spreadbury following the 73rd-minute incident, claimed: ``There was no question of it being a deliberate action.''

Former New Zealand All Black Blowers, needed treatment on the field before he was helped off in a dazed state.

Steele vented his feelings as Paramore headed for the Gloucester dug-out, while several Northampton players were clearly incensed by an incident which went unseen by the vast majority of an 8,600 crowd.

``Junior Paramore sets himself up as an ambassador for the game, but year in, year out, his behaviour is disgraceful. We saw that again today,'' said Steele, during his post-match press conference.

He refused to comment further, yet Paramore's actions had clearly left a bitter taste.

``He (Steele) said something as I left the pitch, but I just ignored it and kept on walking,'' said Paramore, whose first-half try had helped set up a comfortable Gloucester win.

``It was a 50-50 thing, but that's rugby. There was no question of it being a deliberate action.''

Blowers, like Paramore, didn't finish the game. Neither club though, are likely to take matters further if post-match indications by Steele and his Gloucester counterpart Philippe Saint-Andre prove accurate.

Gloucester's victory - underpinned by 17 points from the boot of new fly-half Ludovic Mercier - ended a week when assistant coach Andy Keast was released from his two-year contract.

Keast's premature departure came amid speculation of player unrest at Kingsholm, with Saint-Andre being the rumoured reason for most of it.

But a Gloucester side containing seven debutants from five different Test-playing nations displayed no obvious sign of discontent.

``I didn't see any unhappy guys out on the pitch today, or any guys who didn't have big commitment,'' said Saint-Andre.

``The players here work very hard, and I want people to respect that. For 60 minutes, we were absolutely in control of that match.''

Steele offered no excuses for Northampton's defeat - not even half-time substitute Matt Dawson could inspire them above the ordinary - and added: ``We made a lot of errors.

``We didn't keep the ball for long enough, and we spent a lot of time defending, but we looked a completely different team in the last 20 minutes, and that is what we will build on for next Saturday against Bath.''

Harlequins came horribly unstuck on the Premiership's opening day, beaten 32-21 at home by London Irish.

Quins, who included new signings Dan Luger and Tony Diprose, relied on seven penalties from Paul Burke for their points, but conceded two tries and never recovered from a 16-point interval deficit.

``It didn't go to plan,'' said Quins' new head coach John Kingston.

``We put nothing together in the first-half - there was no rhythm or momentum - and when you are 22-6 down at the interval, there is absolutely no margin for error.

``We then made one mistake in the second-half, and the tide turned against us.''

Burke's fellow Irishman, fly-half Barry Everitt, was the Exiles' hero, kicking 22 points, including conversions of both tries by Mike Worsley and Jarrod Cunningham.