"It's disappointing to get knocked out of the cup. It is a good competition and it is a one off occasion, and brings a sense of occasion to your season at times. But I was pleased with the effort and endeavour that the players showed and we got back on track a little bit today with our application," said the former Welsh international.

"I was very disappointed in one way, but quite pleased in another that we were very tenacious and kept defending right to the end. I rather we didn't have to do that if we were a bit smarter in the way that we played," he continued.

"We defended the lineouts particularly well. We have put a bit of work into that because Quins are a good driving side, but having said that I thought that we were so aggressive defensively that we did turn situations into our favour that we didn't really capitalise on."

"We turned them over in the tackle area a few times, and forced the knock-on and we didn't capitalise thereafter, which was disappointing really."

Leeds looked to be coasting to victory after a disastrous opening spell from the home side that saw them concede 13 points from turnovers, and allowed leading try scorer Dan Scarbrough to scamper home after Quins coughed up possession in midfield.

"Dan finished tremendously well and the try resulted from some good defence that forced them into an error. I'm disappointed with Europe because we got ourselves into a position to win that tie last week against Pontypridd and I'm disappointed with today's game because we were in a position to have won the match," continued the Leeds boss.

"We wanted to try and play a little bit before we came here. We had a plan that was a bit more expansive than that, but to be fair the weather conditions dictated lots of things today. The ball was like a bar of soap and we maybe didn't hang on to it as well as Quins did in the second half."

"We want to try and play but today we didn't get our game going with the ball."

"But we've got 34 points (in the Zurich Premiership) and I'm delighted with that and we need to accumulate now. During the next four or five months, we need to capitalise on the springboard that we have created for ourselves for the rest of the season, and keep improving and keep moving the club forward."

"We are in the middle of our three, four, five year plan and we are moving forward nicely."