Tigers Academy captain Sam Eveleigh says he was nearly brought to tears when the final whistle was blown in Sunday afternoon's U18 League Grand Final against Gloucester, which the Leicester youngsters won 34-31, given the intensity of the final minutes at Allianz Park defending a lead of just three points inside their own half.

Tigers took a 24-point lead in to the half time break, but allowed Gloucester back in to the game in the 20 minutes after half time before digging deep and showing the amount of "heart" the Leicester squad has says their skipper.

"I thought I was going to cry ... it's the best feeling ever," Eveleigh told LTTV.

"That first half of the second half we let them come back in to it. In the last 5-10 minutes, for us to dig deep showed the heart of the boys."

The open-side flanker admitted the fixture was the toughest the Tigers squad have had this season, their second successive unbeaten year on the way to Grand Final glory over Gloucester, and was glowing of his team mate's determination at full-time.

"Today was definitely the hardest challenge ... we just dug deep and got the result" said Eveleigh.

Watch the full interview with Eveleigh on the pitch below on LTTV.