DIRECTOR of rugby Paul Gustard felt some of the officiating was “a little bit unfair” in Harlequins’ 19-14 defeat to Worcester Warriors at The Stoop.

A Jamie Shillcock try, along with 14 points from the boot of Jono Lance, and a defensive effort that kept Quins scoreless from the 15th minute earned Warriors their first away win of the season.

Gustard admitted that the decisions he felt went against his side were not the reason they lost the game.

But he believed Warriors came with “a deliberate plan” when it came to how they competed at the breakdown.

“I felt Worcester were a very streetwise team around the breakdown.” said Gustard.

“They got away with a bit, they don’t roll away, they put their hands past the ruck.

!For large blocks in that second half we were inside their third and we never got the reward we needed to get, either through our own play or the referee penalising them.

“We gave away three or four penalties for contesting on the floor in the breakdown, and we didn’t get one. It felt to me that was a little bit unfair.”

The former England defence coach said that he had looked at how Worcester approached the breakdown before the two teams met.

“I kind of felt looking at Worcester the last two or three weeks, there’s a deliberate plan about how they try and roll away from the ruck, I felt there were things we missed there.”

“But it’s not the reason we lost the game.”