DIRECTOR of rugby Mike Ruddock hailed the heart and passion of his Warriors side after a narrow 19-14 defeat to Leicester Tigers — but felt his gutsy troops should have been celebrating a famous victory.

“We went ahead and possibly will look back and think we should have stolen that one. We have got to be disappointed that we didn’t win,” he said.

“We asked a lot of questions and in the end they answered them. But only just.

“We had the wind first-half and probably needed to be in their 22 a lot more than we were,” he added.

“They got up our end and scored a crucial try with a driving maul, in the end that was a crucial score.

“We scored a great try of our own to match them try for try — we showed a lot of heart and passion.

“In the end we made the decision to just take the bonus point.”

Warriors have taken two losing bonus points in the East Midlands this season after pushing Northampton Saints and Leicester Tigers all the way.

But Ruddock felt the first-half show at Welford Road had ultimately cost his side more points.

He said: “I felt we were better in the first-half against Northampton — that put us in a better position.

“We didn’t do as well in the first-half at Leicester and that has cost us. Second-half we did very well and battled excellently and I felt we were the better team.

Ruddock added: “I also thought Chris White was excellent and refereed the game superbly. It was great to see someone of his quality out there in control.”

Strong winds battered the stadium for most of the afternoon and Ruddock acknowledged the weather conditions had been a big factor.

“What we needed to do was win the territory and field position battle first-half a little better than we did.

“In the end that didn’t quite happen, but the crucial part was allowing them to score that try.”

A tense finale had seen all possible results up for grabs until Jonny Arr kicked to touch with time up.

Ruddock backed the decision not to mount one last raid on the Leicester lineadding: “I was quite happy that we kicked to touch in the end.

“Normally I would like to push on and go for the win, but we had to consider the position.

“There was a massive wind against us and the chances of scoring from 50 or 60 yards out was difficult against a team that could have nailed a penalty.

“I have learnt over the last couple of years that it is not just about winning. It’s about being there or thereabouts every week, picking up bonus points on the road and winning home games.”