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Pat sees positives in attack

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Head coach Pat Howard says he can take plenty of positives out of the performance in defeat at Gloucester on Sunday - not least the strength of the Leicester Tigers attack.

Following the home defeat by Northampton a couple of weeks ago, Howard admitted some concern over his side's attack, but tries at Kingsholm from Alesana Tuilagi (two), Tom Varndell and Geordan Murphy ensured a scoring bonus point to go with the losing one as Tigers maintained top spot in the Guinness Premiership.

And Tigers could have been credited with another score as TV replays showed Varndell touched down a bouncing kick early in the game. The referee, though, did not call the television match official and the decision went against the visitors.

"The guys played with great vigour, we asked Gloucester some questions and scored some nice tries. Two points is the same as a draw," Howard said.

"I am pretty proud of the guys. They scored four tries and maybe could have had more. We probably rued some chances and in tight games you need the rub of the green which we did not necessarily have at times.

"We are scoring tries, we are the best attacking team in the league by quite a long way. We are picking up the bonus points. We are scoring tries and defensively we are doing well. We conceded two today and that is the most for a while. But there were lots of positives in the game."

On the disallowed Varndell effort, Howard added: "It's a try, but that's life. There are lots of ifs and buts, as always. We have had some tough calls at times this season."

Tigers have scored 47 Premiership tries, which is significantly more than their top-of-the-table rivals Saracens (41), London Wasps (40), Gloucester (37) and Bristol (32).

Tuilagi now has five tries in six league starts this season, while Varndell is the club's top league scorer, with eight touchdowns in 11 starts.

"No team has come here and won in the league this season and we were in a position to do that," said Varndell at Gloucester. "It is a game we should have and could have won. I thought I had got the ball down for the other try and I asked the ref to go to the video official but he waved it on. Then you just have to get on with it."