Steve Diamond praised his players for “putting the pride back into the shirt” with a courageous performance in the 31-17 defeat by Lyon in the EPCR Challenge Cup Round of 16 at the Matmut Stadium de Gerland.
Warriors were only seven points down with two minutes to play but a converted try from centre Pierre-Louis Barassi secured Lyon a home quarter-final against Glasgow Warriors.
Lyon supporters were generous with their applause for Warriors players after the final whistle, an appreciation of how hard they had made their side work for victory in a fixture that was only confirmed five days earlier.
“It was the opposite of what we did against Newcastle and the illness that the lads suffered there was more severe than we thought,” said Lead Rugby Consultant Diamond.
“Today a couple of errors made by ourselves made the difference. But I am really proud of the performance. The young lads stood up, Graham Kitchener led from the front with Ted Hill and Niall Annett.
“Maybe the scoreline flattered Lyon slightly but that’s the way it goes in Europe. I know that Gareth Simpson, Fin Smith, Harri Doel, Alex Hearle and the young lads will learn a lot from this experience.
“It was a closer game than the scoreline suggests. I asked the lads to put some pride back into the shirt and they did that in bucketloads so I am delighted for them.
“We were resilient, we showed some real mental strength in our decision making in attack and defence.
“We had few logistical difficulties getting here but no-one has moaned or whinged about it. We will regroup and we have Wasps coming up next Saturday.”