Victory over Gloucester in Round 12 opened up a six-point advantage on fifth spot in the table as teams seek to secure a top-four place and semi-final slots, and Cockerill says he is relatively happy with the season so far.
“We haven’t really hit our best form,” said Tigers director of rugby Cockerill. “There have been issues with continuity in terms of players available with internationals and injuries, but we are still there or thereabouts in the table and we’re still picking up points. But there is definitely more to come from us.
“Traditionally we get better as the season progresses, and we can get a lot better this season.”
Tigers have lost three of the opening 12 league games, scoring 254 points, including 23 tries. The defence has conceded just 172 points – a figure bettered by only Saracens at this points – and 13 tries.
“I think we are okay so far,” said Cockerll.
“We’re doing some good things, we are getting there. There are always areas to improve on, we know that, but we’ll always just keep working hard and doing what we do.
“The whole squad will play its part and we’ve got a few players to come back in which means we can rotate and be stronger again.
“Steve Mafi is fit again and it was good to get him on the pitch against Gloucester, though Brett Deacon has done a great job for us there. To have that quality of the bench, with Logo Mulipola and Castro too, was really good for us last Saturday.
“Tom Croft is fit after a long-term injury and he’s in a queue at this point.
“We have some good depth in the squad with Thomas Waldrom, Scott Hamilton, Mathew Tait and Vereniki Goneva also due to come back in.
“We’ll manage that as we always do and hopefully that can help us keep everyone fresh and keep them all involved because we’ll need that strength in the second half of the season.
“But we don’t want to look too far ahead. We’ve got to go to Worcester on Friday and they have been pretty good so far this season. Any points we can get there will be just as valuable as any others during the season.”
Tigers open the new year at Sixways on Friday evening, then face Ospreys away and Toulouse at home on Sunday, January 20 in the Heineken Cup.
