Lawrence Dallaglio ended a turbulent week on a winning note as he returned from World Cup duty to skipper London Wasps to a remarkable 29-26 EDF Energy Cup victory over Gloucester.
Dallaglio was substituted in the 61st minute, before Wasps launched their stunning fightback, but said: "It was a great win."
After being embroiled in controversy over his criticism of England coach Brian Ashton he was just happy to put the past week behind him.
"It has finished well," said Dallaglio. "The best place to do your talking is on the pitch and I enjoyed being back in the fray.
"I spent a lot of the week on the back foot and I spent a lot of the 60 minutes I was playing on the back foot but it’s great.
"I can put all that other stuff to one side. Nobody has mentioned anything to me at the club this week about anything other than playing this weekend.
"I’ve enjoyed being back at training with the guys. Wasps is always a very easy place to come back to whatever else is going on because everyone walks in with a smile on their face."
Wasps, trailing 26-8 when Dallaglio went off, certainly had plenty to smile about after their late revival which produced two tries for James Haskell and the winner – his second of the game – for former England winger Tom Voyce.
Dallaglio praised 22-year-old Haskell for the maturity he showed in dealing with the disappointment of being the surprise absentee when Ashton named his final World Cup squad.
"He’s taken it in his stride," the 35-year-old added. "The last couple of months have been quite hard for him.
"It isn’t easy to play without that pool of international players around but now we are back you will see the best of him. He is coming on leaps and bounds.
"I’ve a lot of time for him and Tom Rees and I’ve promised them I won’t hang around too much longer."
Gloucester head coach Dean Ryan has only five days to regroup before the opening Heineken Cup clash with Ulster in Belfast on Friday.
"It’s an impossible ask but we’ve just got to get on with it," Ryan said.
"We’ve allowed EDF schedules to put us on a five-day turnaround which is ludicrous. It’s brought up every season but suddenly we lose control of scheduling due to the number of competitions."
Reflecting on the late collapse which turned apparent victory into defeat by Wasps, he added: "It was poor.
"I thought we had done enough to go on and win the game but what we did for the last 20 minutes was poor.
"We kept kicking the ball back to them and invited them in. I’m disappointed."
