Leicester Tigers head coach Dan McKellar says his side will have learned a lot from Friday night’s loss to Bristol Bears, admitting the side were just not good enough on the night, particularly in the first half.

Bears scored 22 unanswered points in the first half, something McKellar admitted was always going to be tough to recover from.

“We weren’t great tonight, that’s the reality,” McKellar said.

“I thought Bristol played well, particularly in the first half. Down 22-0 at half time was always going to be tough to come back from.”

A resurgent second half gave something for Tigers to review positively next week, though McKellar was clear the team would look to take the required lessons from the disappointing outing.

“We’ll learn a lot from tonight,” McKellar explained.

“It’s important we review tonight thoroughly and myself, the coaches and the players will do that Monday as always win or lose.

“I’m pleased that we showed some fight there in the second half. We’re disappointed as a group but it’s early days and we’re back home this week for a big game against Sale.”