McDermott's side have slipped to ninth in the Super League table

Harlequins coach Brian McDermott has clarified his comments after their 18-16 defeat to Catalans Dragons.

An emotional McDermott caused a stir after Quins threw away a 10-point lead at the Millennium Stadium.

After the game he said: "I am asking some questions whether the whole bit of being in London works."

But on Tuesday McDermott added: "At no stage did I question whether London works. I questioned whether we were getting it right."

Tries from Julien Touxagas and Justin Murphy gave Catalans a dramatic late win over Harlequins as part of the Millennium Magic weekend.

It came just a week after Quins had seen a 14-point advantage overturned at Wakefield and brought a fiery response from the coach, who took over the club two years ago.

"In hindsight, I shouldn't have gone into the press conference," added McDermott.

"As a coach, when I see my team lose two games in a row in the dying minutes, then I start to ask questions about what we are doing here in London. By that I mean in terms of our preparation, how we train, when we train, how we travel to games and so on.

"There is certainly no question about whether or not rugby league will work in London. Rugby league does work in London and is making real progress.

606: DEBATE How frustrating must it be to see your side play like that week after week and then shoot themselves in the foot? ThanksSirAlex

"If you could see what is happening at grassroots level in London, you would be blown away. There's going to be an explosion down here soon.

"You are talking in the region of 20,000 kids playing rugby league in schools in London and amateur clubs are springing up from everywhere."

Harlequins chairman Keith Hogg said he understood McDermott's comments came in the heat of the moment.

He added: "Brian is a passionate, committed and talented head coach and everyone at the club is proud of the effort that Brian and all the football team are putting in to developing our club.

"We were all very frustrated with how things ended up on Sunday and with this coming after the game against Wakefield we were all doubly upset.

"That is how things should be. Sport is about passion, it is about caring, it is about feelings and it is about the joy of winning.

"Maybe Brian's emotions ran away with him a little after the game and perhaps he will handle things a little differently next time but that changes nothing at our club."