Harlequins head coach John Kingston is confident his side have now put the recent controversy behind them.
Quins coach proud of effort after Quins draw at Newcastle
Harlequins head coach John Kingston is confident his side have now put the recent controversy behind them as they start to regain their form.
Quins grabbed a 17-17 draw at Newcastle on Friday night, and Kingston admitted that his team's form and confidence had been affected by the fallout form the 'bloodgate' scandal.
Quins, last season's play-off semi-finalists, have lost their opening three fixtures following the departure of director of rugby Dean Richards.
But with the fake blood scandal finally mopped up off the pitch, Kingston is confident his side have turned the corner after salvaging a 17-17 draw with strong second-half comeback.
Although for both teams the search for a first win continues.
"The background with which we have come into this season has been obviously unique and something that nobody would ever wish on anybody frankly," he said.
Kick on
"All we want to do now is kick on and play rugby. I hope people watching are thinking Harlequins are quite a positive side.
"It (the scandal) has been sitting around me about 30% of my life, therefore I would have to say that could you question whether I could operate on 70% of what I should be thinking about.
"So that is probably an accurate analogy of everyone at Harlequins. But we want to kick on now."
It was a brave fight-back from Quins having trailed 14-3 at half-time, with All Black Nick Evans salvaging a draw.
"There has been an impact and the players have fought valiantly and will continue to fight valiantly to come through that situation," he said.
"What really pleased me about it was when I went into the changing room at half-time they were extremely calm and very positive and focused.
"The belief that they have which has been a huge part of what they have achieved last season was all there to see. As far as we are concerned that is a big step forward.
"The guys showed an awful lot of courage and commitment."
"A draw was the absolute least we deserved without wishing to be rude about the opposition. We played some great rugby and we were the better side but it is a draw and it is a start.
"It is mixed emotions but we are actually pretty disappointed we did not end up nailing the game."
Falcons fault
Newcastle director of rugby Steve Bates was in no doubt as to where the blame lay after the Falcons drew their third game of the season.
"I am really disappointed for the players because I think they are responsible for it," he said. "Their discipline was really not good enough.
"We played some really good stuff in the first half and then proceeded to give them a load of penalties which were either kickable or created try-scoring opportunities so we have only ourselves to blame.
"We were really the architects of our own misfortune here."
