The European campaign came to an end at the hands of Glasgow Warriors in the Round of 16 and, following the match, Michael Cheika spoke to the media about his side's performance and the Head Coach was short in his summary of the mood within the away changing room.

“Obviously, we are very disappointed with the result,” he said.

Opening up further on his thoughts of the performance, Cheika added: “I felt like we really dug in, physically, in that first half in particular, up against a lot of adversity.”

“The physicality was great and in the key effort areas, especially seeing the way in which the lads were working hard for each other, this was a really big step forward for us.

“I think if you compared the contact work of the group in this game to last week against Saracens, it was a huge step up.”

Asked about the challenges of taking on the defending URC champions, away from home, with key players unavailable through injury or mandatory rest periods following this season’s Six Nations, Cheika wasn’t being drawn on what could have been.

“Yes, there are guys injured from the Six Nations and guys who were injured over the past week that we are missing, plus guys out who we have to rest, but at the end of the day, it’s about what you do on game day,” he said.

“Today, we weren’t good enough on game day.”

Looking ahead, which is now five remaining league fixtures and a fight to remain in playoff content for this season’s Gallagher Premiership, the Head Coach put it simply.

“We can be better and we need to be better, we need to be more accurate in key moments.”

Cheika’s side will return to action in a fortnight, away to Bristol Bears, when the Run In commences in this season’s Premiership, before hosting Harlequins a week later at Mattioli Woods Welford Road on April 26.

Almost 95% of tickets have been sold for the clash with ‘Quins, with more than 22,000 already snapped up for what is shaping up to be a massive matchday on and off the pitch.

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