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Defensive strength at heart of Euro win

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Richard Cockerill says some "heroic defence" earned Leicester Tigers victory over Munster at Welford Road on Sunday.In front of a noisy 21,000 crowd, Tigers celebrated tries from skipper Ed Slater and wing Vereniki Goneva to record a 17-6 win and make it four wins from four games in the pool of the European Champions Cup.   “It is a great four points,” said director of rugby Cockerill. “We’re a bit disappointed with the performance, but we showed guts to defend and chase back and deal with issues in the game, and that got us the win.   “It is good to see the guys that like scoring tries willing to get back and save them as well. The chase back from guys like Telusa Veainu, Adam Thompstone and Peter Betham, to get back was immense and that got the stadium to its feet. From a defensive point of view, I’d never seen Welford Road like it.   “Some of our defence was heroic. The attitude was outstanding. Scott Hansen is working hard on defence and effort and attitude, and that got us there tonight.”   Slater’s try put Tigers ahead after 23 minutes but it was only when Goneva latched on to a break by Betham to add a second on 66 minutes that daylight finally appeared between the two teams.   “I thought Munster were really good, they played really well, Anthony Foley did a great job in getting them prepared for the game after losing at home last week,” said Cockerill.   “If you look at the detail of the game and not just the result, I thought they were very good and probably unfortunate not to get more from it.   “We were a bit loose with the ball at times and our discipline was poor in the first half. We gave them too many penalties and too many opportunities to exit when they were under pressure.   “But I’m delighted with the win. We’re in a decent position in the pool and qualification is in our own hands which is where we wanted to be when we started.”   Tigers are back on home turf on Saturday with an Aviva Premiership fixture against Newcastle Falcons. Kick-off is at 3pm and tickets are available now. Bok at the Welford Road ticket office, phone 0116 319 8888 (option 2) or click here to book online.