Harlequins head coach John Kingston admitted he was relieved to come away from Headingley with a 30-27 victory.
Quins boss unimpressed with second half display
Harlequins head coach John Kingston slammed his side's second half performance but was relieved to come away with a 30-27 victory over Leeds at Headingley.
The London-based club were indebted to a brace of tries from flanker Chris Robshaw as they continued their rise up the Guinness Premiership table with a narrow away win.
Robshaw, who made his England debut against Argentina in June, scored twice to help the visitors into a 24-13 interval lead.
Yet Leeds hit back with two tries in seven second-half minutes through Kearnan Myall and Tom Denton to ensure a scoreline of 30-27 in the visitors' favour going into the final quarter of the match.
Leeds pushed hard for a try that could have secured only their second win of the season, but Quins held firm.
Silly
Speaking after the match, Kingston, who reserved special praise for Robshaw, said: "I knew in my mind that we had to play well to get that victory.
"There were times when we played really well and threatened to get away from them. The challenge at half-time was to get away from them and win by 40 or 50 points.
"That sounds silly when you win 30-27, but we weren't good enough with the way we handled things in that second half at times.
"With 20 minutes to go it turned into an arm wrestle but I actually thought we handled that pretty well.
"Chris Robshaw has been outstanding in the last few months and must be in the frame for England."
The result means lowly Leeds have now lost three Premiership matches in succession since their momentous win at Wasps.
Disappointed
Leeds head coach Neil Back, whose side led through Richard Welding's early try, said: "Our first-half performance, conceding three soft tries, killed us basically.
"We turned out a really good display in the second half but ultimately the experience of our opposition's number nine and 10 (Danny Care and Nick Evans) controlled things in the latter stages of that game and at times we were dull and lacked composure."
With more guile and discipline, Leeds could have conceivably beaten Sale and Harlequins in their last two matches at Headingley Carnegie.
They ended up losing both and Back bemoaned: "They could and should have been five-point wins for us and we have effectively missed out on eight points.
"So yes, I am disappointed and so are the squad."
