SIR Ian McGeechan has refused to give up on Heineken Cup qualification for Bath despite last night's LV= Cup semi final defeat to Leicester.

Director of Rugby McGeechan was left ruing his players' wastefulness as they dominated large parts of the game but saw four penalties from Tigers' teenage fly-half end their hopes of silverware for the season.

"We just had to be more accurate," he said. "We had the opportunities we expected but made errors at critical times. In a close game, any opportunity counts."

He added: "It's always a blow when you lose in the latter stages of a competition. Apart from a scrambled try, Leicester didn't threaten our line at all and, having gone behind, we did really well to get back in front."

On the winning penalty, reversed in Leicester's favour on the advice of the touch judge, McGeechan said: "The Leicester player was binding on the arm, not our loosehead. I'm pretty annoyed with that, particularly when it becomes the match winner."

However, he said he was not giving up on Heineken Cup qualification for next season.

"We've got a good challenge in our five remaining league games and our game is in good shape."

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