‘Gutted’ Nick Easter says Harlequins must learn from mistakes after European Challenge Cup final defeat

Conor O’Shea will chair his final Harlequins debrief today as director of rugby before leaving their Guildford training ground for the last time with the European Challenge Cup final 26-19 loss to Montpellier certain to dominate the discussions.

While O’Shea is about to turn his thoughts to his new job as Italy’s head coach, Nick Easter, the Quins No8, will be part of the meeting in his new role as the club’s defence coach and the England forward believes the club has to go back in time to rediscover its best form.

Easter said: “We need to get back to what we were doing a few years ago. There needs to be a bit more accountability, I think, and a bit more understanding of key moments. There are always errors, but there are key moments when you have got to execute, and we didn’t do that, especially in the second half against Montpellier.

“The first half of the season was really good. The Six Nations period hurt us, and then coming back we didn’t quite gel and nail the games we needed to. We weren’t good enough to be in the Champions Cup next season.