Richard Cockerill says Leicester Tigers have to be more "solid and reliable" on their travels after a first away defeat of the season at Sale Sharks on Saturday.
Following wins at Gloucester and Newcastle Falcons in the opening rounds of the Aviva Premiership season, Tigers had hoped for a hat-trick at Sale, only to be beaten 34-30 at the AJ Bell Stadium.
“Sale played well and deserved the win, but we were not good enough and paid the price,” said the Tigers director of rugby.
“We were a bit easy to score against in the first half and that hurt us. We coughed up soft tries and then you end up on the wrong end of the result. We were very good around the ruck last week and today we got caught twice in the first half there.
“It is disappointing. We did some very good things last week [against Bath] and probably took two steps forward but it was probably two steps back this week. Away from home you have to be solid and reliable in everything you do and today we were not solid or reliable enough.”
Tigers recovered from conceding an early try to claim two well-crafted scores from Peter Betham and led 17-7 shortly after the quarter-hour mark. But Sharks scored twice more to lead 24-20 at half-time and claimed their bonus-point try before Adam Thompstone’s score for Tigers cut the deficit to a single point after 68 minutes.
As Tigers looked for a final push and a score to edge ahead again in the closing stages, it was Sharks goalkicker Will Addison who provided the final points of the afternoon and condemn Tigers to a first away defeat.
“You have to get your foothold in a game and when we got 10 points in front you want to get the next score and keep building that pressure,” added Cockerill. “When things go against you or if you make an error, you have to make sure you get the next thing right. But today we did something wrong and then it happened again.”
Following wins at Gloucester and Newcastle Falcons in the opening rounds of the Aviva Premiership season, Tigers had hoped for a hat-trick at Sale, only to be beaten 34-30 at the AJ Bell Stadium.
“Sale played well and deserved the win, but we were not good enough and paid the price,” said the Tigers director of rugby.
“We were a bit easy to score against in the first half and that hurt us. We coughed up soft tries and then you end up on the wrong end of the result. We were very good around the ruck last week and today we got caught twice in the first half there.
“It is disappointing. We did some very good things last week [against Bath] and probably took two steps forward but it was probably two steps back this week. Away from home you have to be solid and reliable in everything you do and today we were not solid or reliable enough.”
Tigers recovered from conceding an early try to claim two well-crafted scores from Peter Betham and led 17-7 shortly after the quarter-hour mark. But Sharks scored twice more to lead 24-20 at half-time and claimed their bonus-point try before Adam Thompstone’s score for Tigers cut the deficit to a single point after 68 minutes.
As Tigers looked for a final push and a score to edge ahead again in the closing stages, it was Sharks goalkicker Will Addison who provided the final points of the afternoon and condemn Tigers to a first away defeat.
“You have to get your foothold in a game and when we got 10 points in front you want to get the next score and keep building that pressure,” added Cockerill. “When things go against you or if you make an error, you have to make sure you get the next thing right. But today we did something wrong and then it happened again.”
