Mike Ruddock hailed the heart and passion of his side after narrow defeat to champions Leicester Tigers – but felt his gutsy troops should have been celebrating a famous victory.
Tom Wood silenced Welford Road with a second half try that threatened to give Warriors a first away win of the Guinness Premiership season.
Home fly half Jeremy Staunton kicked a late drop goal and penalty to ensure Leicester took the victory.
However, Director of Rugby Ruddock felt his team should have tasted a win and the first half try by Lewis Moody had been the defining moment.
“We went ahead and possibly will look back and think we should have stolen that one. We have got to be disappointed that we didn’t win that one,” he said.
“We gave them a scare. To be here and leading with ten minutes to go, we asked a lot of questions of Leicester, there is no doubt about that, and in the end they answered them. But only just.
“We had the wind first half and probably needed to be in their 22 a lot more than we were,” he added.
“They got up our end and scored a crucial try with a driving maul, in the end that was a crucial score.
“We scored a great try or our own to match them try for try – we showed a lot of heart and passion.
“In the end we made the decision to just take the bonus point. Part of what we are looking at in the first batch of Guinness Premiership matches was to win our home games and be difficult to beat on the road and pick up bonus points if we couldn’t get a win.
“But we thought we might have just stolen the win, the last ten minutes we were hoping to get back up the field and score again. It didn’t happen so we had to take the point, but we asked a lot of questions of them and in the end they probably just about deserved to nick it.”
Warriors have taken two losing bonus points in the East Midlands this season after pushing Northampton Saints and Leicester Tigers all the way.
But Ruddock felt the first half show at Welford Road had ultimately cost his side more points.
He said: “I felt we were better in the first half against Northampton; that put us in a better position.
“We didn’t do as well in the first half here and that has cost us. Second half we did very well and battled excellently and I felt we were the better team.
“But we allowed that crucial score in the first half. We scored a great try and pushed them.
“I also thought Chris White was excellent and refereed the game superbly. It was great to see someone of his quality out there in control.”
Strong winds battered the stadium for most of the afternoon and Ruddock acknowledged the weather conditions had been a big factor.
“We needed really to control field position and territory in the first half with the advantage of the wind,” he said.
“We didn’t overall in the first 40 minutes as much as we wanted to. I would say Leicester played well in the first half. They moved the ball side to side, got in behind us a few times and picked up a few penalties first half.
“What we needed to do was win that territory and field position battle first half a little better than we did.
“If we had gone into half-time with the lead we had some good impact players on the bench, We were hoping that bringing them on in the second half would have gone in our favour and we would have gone on to win the game.
“In the end that didn’t quite happen, but the crucial part was allowing them to score that try.”
A tense finale had seen all possible results up for grabs until Jonny Arr kicked to touch with time up.
And Ruddock backed the decision not to mount one last raid on the Leicester line adding: “I was quite happy that we kicked to touch in the end.
“Normally I would like to push on and go for the win, but we had to consider the position.
“There was a massive wind against us and the chances of scoring from 50 or 60 yards out was very difficult against a team that could have gone on to nail a penalty.
“We didn’t want to get turned over in the tackle area trying to force something to take away our bonus point.
“I have learnt over the last couple of years in this league that it is not just about winning. It’s about being there or thereabouts every week, picking up bonus points on the road when you have to and winning your home games.”