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Intensity impresses head coach Mauger

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The foundations for Saturday's big win over Bristol on Saturday came from intensity and physicality, according to Leicester Tigers head coach Aaron Mauger.

Tigers ran in eight tries in a 50-17 win – scoring a half-century of points for the first time since a victory over Treviso in 2011 – to stay in the mix towards the top of the Aviva Premiership table after 15 rounds.
 
“It was a good performance, a step up and a step in the right direction for us,” said Mauger.
 
“The first 35 minutes’ intensity was outstanding, exactly what we asked for. We talked about that in the week and the boys answered it.
 
“Every carry was good, the breakdown was good, the boys put in a big shift up front. You have that energy and that belief as a group, you trust the players to play with their eyes up and see the space, and our shape is allowing us to play on the front foot when we can.
 
“There are things to improve and tidy up and to grow, but it is a decent performance.
 
"There’s a bit of competition for places and that is exciting for us because intensity goes up across the squad.”
 
JP Pietersen and Telusa Veainu shared three of the eight tries on their return from injury and with international centre Maxime Mermoz making his first start, Mauger says the competition for places is central to the intensity shown by the team.
 
“It’s nice to have Telusa and JP back. The standard of training and level of training has gone up because they’re all competing for places. All the guys know they have to keep playing well to keep their places.
 
“Now we have a big game next week at Quins and then Exeter at home. This is an important four-game block.
 
“Confidence is pretty high and we’ve had some good performance, but we’ll keep our feet on the ground because there’s still plenty of things we could have done better – a couple of tries for them were a bit soft and we left a couple of scores out there.”
 
Tigers go to Harlequins on Friday and then host Exeter Chiefs at Welford Road on Friday, march 3 (7.45pm). Match tickets are available now at the Tigers ticket office. Book in person at Welford Road, phone 0116 319 8888 (option 2)(open 9am-5pm Monday-Saturday) or click here to book online.