Aaron Mauger says Leicester Tigers paid a high price for losing the physical battles against Racing 92 in Paris on Saturday.
Tigers needed a victory over the defending French champions to retain hopes of reaching the knockout stages but conceded five tries in a 34-3 defeat at the Stade Yves-du-Manoir.
“It’s frustrating, we just didn’t front up,” admitted head coach Mauger at the final whistle.
“Racing were very good in the collisions and they slowed our ball when we were in possession. But we weren’t physical enough, we conceded at the gainline and when we had ball of our own we were sloppy. We didn’t complete well enough to build any pressure on them. We have to be much better there on both sides of the ball."
Racing scored two tries in the opening 20 minutes, with Freddie Burns kicking the only points of the evening for Tigers just after the half-hour mark before the hosts added three more scores.
“It was a really frustrating start to the game and we didn’t really recover," siad Mauger.
“We wanted to get on the front foot but we didn’t earn the right to do that. It comes back to the physical parts of the game. You have to be better at the collision parts of the game or it is hard to get going.”
Tigers end the pool stages of the tournament with a home game against Glasgow Warriors on Saturday (5.30pm).
“We’re pretty wounded,” added Mauger. “But we look after each other and we come in on Monday and front up next week.”
Tickets for Tigers versus Warriors are on sale now at the Welford Road ticket office. Call in, phone 0116 319 8888 (option 2) or click here to book online.
Tigers needed a victory over the defending French champions to retain hopes of reaching the knockout stages but conceded five tries in a 34-3 defeat at the Stade Yves-du-Manoir.
“It’s frustrating, we just didn’t front up,” admitted head coach Mauger at the final whistle.
“Racing were very good in the collisions and they slowed our ball when we were in possession. But we weren’t physical enough, we conceded at the gainline and when we had ball of our own we were sloppy. We didn’t complete well enough to build any pressure on them. We have to be much better there on both sides of the ball."
Racing scored two tries in the opening 20 minutes, with Freddie Burns kicking the only points of the evening for Tigers just after the half-hour mark before the hosts added three more scores.
“It was a really frustrating start to the game and we didn’t really recover," siad Mauger.
“We wanted to get on the front foot but we didn’t earn the right to do that. It comes back to the physical parts of the game. You have to be better at the collision parts of the game or it is hard to get going.”
Tigers end the pool stages of the tournament with a home game against Glasgow Warriors on Saturday (5.30pm).
“We’re pretty wounded,” added Mauger. “But we look after each other and we come in on Monday and front up next week.”
Tickets for Tigers versus Warriors are on sale now at the Welford Road ticket office. Call in, phone 0116 319 8888 (option 2) or click here to book online.
