Walder reflects on Leicester loss
Speaking after the game, he said: “It feels like groundhog day, really.
“We probably second-guessed Leicester and were surprised when they ran the ball from deep so much at the start, and they caught us on the hop if we’re honest about it.
“We’re disappointed that we didn’t deal with it within our systems, but from 12 points down we came back into the game brilliantly to take the lead. We showed really good attitude and positivity in what we were doing and played how we wanted to play.
“Five minutes before half-time at 14-12 up I was chatting to Mark Laycock about how I was going to run the half-time chat with the lads, and the next minute we’re 26-14 down having given them two soft tries with a couple of mental switch-offs.
“Having come back from 12 points in the first half we knew we could do it, but then again in the second half we just lost our way a bit. We didn’t execute, and in the end we came up short.”
The Falcons boss added: “It’s great to know that the lads have got the attitude and the resolve that we’ve shown in parts over the last two games, and there’s a lot of positivity around the place around what we’re trying to do.
“I don’t want the players to be happy about getting beaten, but at the same time I can see they’re excited about what we’re doing and what we’re going to be capable of.
“We’ve played the champions for the last two seasons in our opening pair of games, and although it’s tough to take getting nothing today in terms of points we can definitely be pleased with some of the things we showed.
“We’ve got a good environment with a lot of great characters, but ultimately it’s results driven and we’re disappointed with two defeats. We need to make sure that a happy environment translates into results on the pitch, and that’s the next step for us.”
Finding his side in a hat-trick of road trips this week, Walder said: “It’s a difficult week for us because we’ve got three away games in the space of eight days, with going to Wasps on Tuesday night.
“We’re used to travelling so we’ll just get on with it, and then there’s obviously everything going on in and around Worcester, which we’ve just got to put out of our minds.
“All we can do is prepare properly, and not allow ourselves to get distracted by anything going on in terms of the Worcester situation.”
