Agar hails 'professional job'

Richard Agar praised a "professional job" by his Hull side after they saw off Harlequins 28-4 at the KC Stadium on Friday night.

The Airlie Birds bounced back from their shock away defeat to Crusaders with a comfortable home win that saw them score five tries.

Craig Fitzgibbon, Kirk Yeaman, Craig Hall, Danny Tickle and Richard Horne all touched down for the hosts, who were again without skipper Sean Long.

However Agar admitted his players had reacted like the result had gone against them in the dressing room due to their frustrations over the ruck.

Bemused

"I thought we did a professional job," he said.

"We didn't let our frustrations get the better of us and the players kept their minds on the job, although I don't think the 13,000 watching and me included did.

"I'm frustrated by the ruck. Look at round one to round four. It's bemusing. The game was allowed to flow, but that's because there were no penalties.

"I've gone in the changing rooms and the players are acting like they have lost because they are so frustrated. It's ridiculous."

Agar hopes the victory will answer any questions regarding his side's ability to succeed without scrum-half Long, who remains sidelined through injury.

"We had to make some changes and people said can we play without Long," the Black and Whites boss added. "But we have shown that last week was just us being flat.

"We needed to aim up in a couple of areas and we did. Everybody is getting to grips with things at this stage in the year, adapting to conditions and styles and that is part of the challenge.

"I am confident that this won't be the same as last year when we struggled and we will be a more consistent team. I'm confident we have got the personnel and the capability."

Momentum

Opposite number Brian McDermott refused to be too downhearted in defeat, insisting that Quins' form would improve once their injured players return.

Influential duo Luke Dorn and Rob Purdham are both currently on the sidelines with shoulder problems.

"I can't summarise what happened in a couple of sentences," he said. "I'm not concerned about our form.

"We've got some blokes missing and we recognised it was going to be a tough start to the season. As long as the effort is there and as long as we don't implode, we will get some momentum.

"I think it's great that some of our young players are improving in there, the likes of Ben Bolger, and there are some good signs there."