Brian McDermott admits his Harlequins RL side must start faster when they head to Hull KR this weekend as they look to keep their flagging Super League play-off hopes alive.

Quins stumbled to a 42-22 defeat to champions Leeds Rhinos at the Stoop last Saturday, slipping to 16-0 and 34-12 deficits before staging late rallies.

And McDermott bemoaned his side’s slackness for costing them dearly.

He said: “I thought we started the game in a terrible fashion and that was the end of it.

“We did not wake up until about the 50-minute mark and by then it gave us too much to do.

“You give sides like Leeds a start like that and it will always be difficult.

“We should have gone into the game with real momentum after the Crusaders win, and now it is up to us to build that momentum back up again.”

All the talk in the build-up to the clash was that Leeds may be there for the taking with a host of their stars on England duty, but it did not prove to be the case.

And McDermott felt that had worked against his side.

He added: “I think Leeds had developed a bit of a siege mentality about their missing players and it made them very dangerous.

“I still think you have to give them a lot of credit as they put in a very good performance.

“But they still had a load of international players out there so it was hardly a reserve side.”

Quins tries came from Luke Dorn (two), David Howell and Luke Gale as they chased the game.

And the Quins coach was eager to take the positives, namely the performance of winger Jamie O’Callaghan.

McDermott said: “Jamie still has some way to go and he is still learning.

“He works really hard in training and is normally one of the last players out there.

“He took some stick this season and obviously we had Kevin Penny here on loan but I had no problem throwing Jamie back in there.

“He has produced some really good stuff over the last two games and I think he will keep developing.”