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Small margins cost Tigers

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Tigers head coach Pat Howard was understandably disappointed after his side fell to a narrow defeat at the hands of European champions Munster at Welford Road on Sunday. Howard's men went down 21-19 thanks to a late Ronan O'Gara penalty, with the former Wallaby centre stressing that his side failed to take their chances.

"It's a game of very small margins," said Howard. "I thought the game was very, very close obviously. We probably had one or two more chances but they took their two opportunities to score and that was pretty much the difference.

"It was definitely frustrating. I even thought we played reasonably in the first half. We had opportunities to score in that period with Kay and Corry and they had opportunities with O'Callaghan and Wallace. They took their two and we didn't take ours."

The weather conditions undoubtedly played a part in the make-up and outcome of the match, which was played in constant rain after the heavens had opened half an hour before kick-off.

"On a wet day like that there's not going to be much in it: a bobbling ball here, a turnover in executing something there. One of those turnovers led to a run-away try and that was obviously important. I thought both sides played the weather pretty well, but like I say, it's a game of small margins. We had our chances to win, but we didn't take them. I was very proud of the blokes but ultimately we came up short."

Tigers now travel to the Millennium Stadium to face Cardiff Blues on Sunday, with their final Heineken Cup group match being played at Munster's Thomond Park next January.

"Going to Thomond Park is like coming to Leicester and winning - it's a difficult thing to do. Once you're on the pitch it's 15 against 15 though. I've never believed Welford Road guarantees you a win and I don't believe Thomond Park guarantees anything either. That's a long way away for us though. We've got to go and deal with next week first."