After defeats by Harlequins and Saracens, Tigers scored six tries in a 48-10 victory over Sale Sharks at Welford Road on Saturday and hold third place in the Aviva Premiership standings with just five rounds remaining.
“Our attitude to want to play was great against Sale,” said Tigers director of rugby Cockerill.
“It could have been a banana skin, but I was delighted we came through and that we played some good stuff too. Across the board the players were good.
“Even though we lost to Quins and Saracens, in parts of those games we played really well and we were confident that, if we played with the right mentality against Sale, we would get the right result.
“The week approaching the game was outstanding from the players.
“Matt O’Connor in training has been pushing everybody to be positive with the ball in hand and have a positive attitude. We could have been a bit negative after two defeats but Matt, and Paul Burke and Richard Blaze, were immense in getting the players up and being positive and giving them the belief to go out and play and be confident.
“The attitude of the players was fantastic. They know how important these points are. If we’d lost again the sides above us could be away, but we are now right back in it with five games to go.”
Tigers return to action with a trip to Exeter Chiefs in Round 18 on Saturday, March 23 (5pm).
