Kingston looks for positives
October 6, 2001

Harlequins' director of rugby John Kingston is refusing to be downbeat despite his side's 24-8 defeat at the hands of Munster in the Heineken Cup.

Irish international Ronan O'Gara stole the show for Munster, the Irish fly-half, clearly not deterred by the 9,000-capacity crowd, scored 16 points in all from a converted try, a drop goal and two penalties.

It gave Munster a stranglehold on the group but Kingston, who used to coach Munster's Irish neighbours Talwegions, insists Harlequins will learn from their mistakes to become a better side.

"At the end of the day we saw one streetwise side and one inexperienced side," said Kingston, whose team next take on French side Castres in Pool Four of the European competition.

"It is a sad fact that we did not win. The team did not concentrate for the 80 minutes and for some reason we panicked.

"But we have learned a lot of lessons from this game and as I always say you have got to draw on these experiences to become a more battled, hardened side."

And Kingston believed Harlequins were potentially beaten by the side that are going to win this season's European crown.

He added: "Munster have got all the credentials necessary to go all the way. They are the Leicester's of Ireland.

"What we saw on Saturday was a typical Munster performance on the park.

"Sometimes they can lose their way like they did in the first 20 minutes, but then they will work hard, grind out the result and come out smelling of roses."

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