Mike Ruddock insisted the big decisions had gone against his Worcester Warriors as they lost 32-15 to London Irish on the final day of the Guinness Premiership season.
Chris Fortey and George Crook grabbed tries on the day in front of the second biggest crowd ever at Sixways Stadium.
However, Ruddock was left to bemoan two turning points either side of half-time as Netani Talei had a try scrubbed off before a crucial second score from Irish just minutes after the restart.
“There were two big calls,” said Ruddock. “Some go for you and some go against you, today they went against us either side of half-time.
“I felt Netani (Talei) had scored a good try, we will have to look at it on the video, but from where I was sitting he got tackled and placed the ball on or over the line for a try.
“That would have given us a 17-10 lead going into half-time which would have been a very different proposition for us.
“Then, just after half-time when Loki Crichton got back and was pinned in the corner, it looked like Charlie Fellows blew the guy away who was going to contest the ball.
“He went past the tackled player. He fell down but it was way past the contact for the ball, but we got penalised for that and from the scrum they scored.
“Two big calls and in the end we couldn’t recover from that. Irish went on to win the game and they were the better side, but we were scrapping for everything and trying our best to upset their hopes of the play-offs.”
The result did not go for Ruddock’s men but the Warriors boss was still delighted to see a young team – that involved 12 Academy products on the pitch in the final minutes – perform so well.
“At the end of the game we had the whole back five at the scrum and the entire back division were either Academy player or Academy players,” said Ruddock.
“We have been talking about developing the Worcester Way and trying to get out own players to come through.
“You won’t get a much better representation than that, only a few veterans in the front row, otherwise they were all young bucks.
“It was great to see George Crook coming on and scoring that try at the end with so many home-grown players on the field.
“Obviously we are disappointed to lose, London Irish are a very good team and if you let your guard down they are going to hurt you. Maybe we did that second half, but at half-time I was pleased and just a few crucial moments went against us.”