Tigers have had two weekends without a game after elimination from the LV= Cup, and they return with a trip to Worcester Warriors in the Guinness Premiership next Saturday before welcoming Bath Rugby to Welford Road on Saturday, April 3 (3pm).
“We all want to be in every cup and it is disappointing when you aren’t there, but we have to use the time to our benefit as much as possible,” said Cockerill.
“We are in good spirits, we have a great opportunity to retain the Guinness Prmeiership title, which is a very hard thing to do. It is just about having that balance between not working the players too hard and not having too much of a rest.”
The players enjoyed one week off before returning to training this week and the squad will be back to full strength on Monday when the internationals return from duty at the RBS 6 Nations.
“We’ve been working on conditioning and skills, and just freshening everybody up really for the final weeks of the season,” added Cockerill.
“So far, touch wood, all of our Test players are fit and playing pretty well, we’re just hoping they come through this final weekend and come back on Monday as fresh as they can be and ready to go.”
Tigers have Dan Cole, Toby Flood, Lewis Moody, Louis Deacon and Ben Youngs away with England, Geordan Murphy with the Ireland squad and Martin Castrogiovanni preparing for Italy’s final game of the Championship.
