Richards bemoans Falcons’ inaccuracy
The Falcons failed to hit their recent heights in front of a sell-out crowd of 10,100 at Kingston Park Stadium, Vereniki Goneva scoring their only try.
Speaking after the game, Richards said: “Our inaccuracy was the main frustration.
“We were quite ill-disciplined, we dropped a lot of balls and it was a bit of a kick up the backside, if we’re honest.
“We gave too many penalties away. That was probably forced on us by the way we were defending and doing our own things at times so, yes, it was just very inaccurate and it’s cost us dear.
“We scored straight away after half time but it was that consistency that we struggled with in the first half that we struggled with again in the second half. That was the disappointing thing, the lack of consistency in our decision-making and our inaccuracy, whether it be at the set-piece or otherwise.”
Crediting the performance of England fly-half George Ford for Leicester, Richards added: “He was my man of the match by far.
“I know some people are saying Telusa Veainu was outstanding, I thought Sinoti made some lovely breaks and some fine passes at times but their forwards controlled the game right from the off until the end of the game. It’s understandable where he is at this moment in time.”
Turning to his own side following their first Kingston Park loss since Saracens last March, the Falcons boss added: “We’re disappointed, we’re a better side than that.
“We didn’t play as well as we could have done and they probably played as well as they could have done, but I’d have expected a bit more out of today.
“The disappointment is down to our inaccuracy in certain areas. We talk about it week in, week out and it’s repeated actions, it’s about going out there and doing it time and time again. Too often this week, we didn’t quite get it right.
“Leicester’s forwards controlled the lineouts very well, they’ve got a massive scrum and they get away with a huge amount. If the referee is on one side, you’ve got to be looking at what happens on the other side. Ellis Genge is beginning to come into his own so I think they have a really good scrum there, and it’s difficult to combat that.
“We just pushed the game too far at times and we just need to learn that actually there was no need to do that.”
