DIRECTOR of rugby Dean Ryan felt Worcester Warriors’ controversial second try wasn’t a pivotal moment in their 21-15 Aviva Premiership victory at Harlequins.

Skipper Gerrit-Jan van Velze raced through for a score after the referee’s assistant had raised his flag when Francois Hougaard appeared to bundle Henry Cheeseman into touch.

But referee Craig Maxwell-Keys allowed play to continue and awarded the try, despite consulting with the television match official.

Heathcote slotted the conversion to give Worcester a commanding 18-6 lead after 30 minutes.

Ryan said: “The try was given immediately by the referee – that’s just life and there wasn’t any changing it.

“I am not sure that was particularly pivotal in the game and I thought we deserved to win and they (Harlequins) were never near a sniff.

“We probably missed three or four opportunities and I am not sure that is a focal point.”

But Harlequins director of rugby Conor O'Shea had a different opinion and said the try should not have been allowed.

O’Shea said: “It shouldn’t have been given - full stop - but that’s not the reason we lost.

“The touch judge put up his flag and three of our players stopped and mentally that is tough when you go 18-6 down instead of going into the second half 11-9 down.

“But that’s not the reason we lost.

“It’s very disappointing and you would just like them (officials) to own up to that mistake but the better team won on the day.

“Is that decision a baffling thing to happen? It is and those things make big differences but Worcester were the better team.”

Warriors chief Ryan hailed his side’s defensive qualities against a Quins side who looked to run the ball from all areas of the field.

“We were great defensively to deprive them of a try because they are probably the most dangerous side in the league,” said Ryan.

“On a dry day, you’d think it would be tough to keep them under control but the coaches did a good job to set us up so they couldn’t get their strengths into the game.

“Certainly in those first 40 minutes, Quins got a little frustrated and that played into our hands.

“In the second half, we played with decent intent and kept the ball off them and I am surprised we didn’t get more from the amount of possession we had.

“But we kept playing and pushing and I would have liked the penalty to have gone over at the end. It would have made the last minute easier to watch.”

Wing Tom Biggs made his first appearance since January, replacing Cooper Vuna, and Ryan thought the switch had paid off.

“I thought Biggsy was right for the match and it was right to freshen up Coops,” said Ryan.

“I knew we would play wide on a dry track and Biggsy does a good job at making decisions to come in and off his wing.

“We are running out of games – we can’t just sit with the same 15 players.”