Benetton Reaction | Dan McFarland & Rob Herring

Dan McFarland and Rob Herring look back at a narrow 31-29 defeat to Italian side Benetton in Round 12 of the BKT United Rugby Championship.

Dan McFarland

POSITION: Head Coach

On Benetton

"Absolutely gutted after losing a good contest right at the end of the game. We fought our way back into it and I was proud of the way we fought. We were close at the end with a potential try but it is what it is. At the same time I'm proud of of how we got back into it and got two points."

"In the last two games, we have turned the ball over and gave the opposition a chance to attack. We showed what we can do in attack, we scored four tries and they scored three, but we needed more scores in the first half and to stop turning the ball over."

La Rochelle test

"We’ll keep the emphasis on standards of execution at training this week, looking at the way we play. Our minds will be on going away to La Rochelle and that will focus everybody. They are probably one of the top two teams in Europe, so it's a big challenge to test yourself against the very best and is something we will look forward this week."

Rob Herring

POSITION: Hooker

Dressing room mood

"We’re pretty gutted. We are on a run of bad form and sometimes in these games, like Munster, if the game finishes five minutes earlier, you’re starting the week a bit happier. Credit to Benetton, they forced us into errors and these are tough losses for us."

"We are not playing our best rugby, but we’re still in the game. We came back after 13 points down and can look at that as a positive."

La Rochelle

"European games are a different challenge, but we’ve got to start the week and flip the switch. Our last game against La Rochelle, we let them get ahead in the first half but second half we did better on the scoreboard, so we've got to take that."

"There are moments in games where we need to control things better and we need to get that right. We are still a good side, play some brilliant rugby, and show heart, so we need to join all of these against La Rochelle."