Harlequins head coach Tabai Matson wants his team to make it easier for themselves after enduring another dramatic Premiership win.
The Londoners came from 14 points behind on two occasions to eventually overcome the Exiles 26-24 with the last play of the game.
Irish were 14-0 ahead at the break and then held a 21-7 advantage before Quins levelled matters after Ben Donnell had been sent off for the visitors.
Nick David was then red carded for the hosts before Paddy Jackson moved Declan Kidney’s men in front with a late penalty.
Harlequins appeared set to succumb to a fourth Premiership defeat of the season, but George Head went over to snatch the win for the hosts.
A tight competition
“It’s great to watch as a fan, but as a coach, jeepers, it’s frustrating, especially the first half for us,” Matson said.
“But ultimately it’s such a tight competition, this was never going to be an easy fixture and to scrape away with a win in the 84th or 85th minute is probably the most important thing.
“Disappointingly, their second-half try looked really soft for us and we just made a couple of really poor defensive glitches and they’re sharp.
“One of the things I admire about them is that they’re good in the wider channels, but we stayed in the fight and we talk about the composure at the end, when you’re getting reds and yellows and people are playing in different positions.
“It’s really tough so to be composed right at the end and get the win, there’ll be a few pats on the back.”
London Irish were left ‘disappointed’ by the defeat, but director of rugby Kidney attempted to put the result into perspective.
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Letting emotions settle
“When you lose in the last play of the game it is disappointing, but what you have to do as professionals is let the emotions settle and deal with it,” he said.
“We know there are lots of things we can do better, but you can’t be that disappointed if you are that close.
“We were well out of the blocks but there are parts we can do better.
“It is very disappointing and there were lots of little bits in the last couple of minutes where the emotions were yo-yoing, so we have to take a look at what we can do better.
“When the emotion settles you come off and everyone is talking about the last couple of plays of the game, but what you have to do is look at the whole.”
