A 23-11 defeat at Franklin’s Gardens, coupled with Saracens taking a bonus point out of their home defeat to Newport Gwent Dragons 24 hours later, signalled the end of Tigers’ hopes of a place in the semi-finals of the LV= Cup.
But Cockerill saw the positives in the contribution of many of his first-team squad in the absence of the senior internationals.
“Having Geordan Murphy back on the field is a huge plus for us,” said Cockerill after the Tigers club captain came off the bench to play the final 20 minutes at Saints.
“Julian White got another 80 minutes under his belt and he will be really important for us.
“Guys like Matt Smith, Harry Ellis, Sam Vesty all got some more game-time. Tom Youngs did a really good job in his first start for us at hooker at this level, Dan Hemingway did well in the second row.
“Lucas Amorosino came in and was outstanding in his attack from full-back.
“We have to use the whole squad in a long season and it is important that we have as many options available to us as possible.”
Billy Twelvetrees kicked two penalties and claimed the visitors’ try after a sensational break by Amorosino.
“It was a bit disappointing to give away those two tries in the first half but I thought we played some good stuff,” added Cockerill.
“Perhaps if we made a bit more of our opportunities late in the second half we could have set up a grandstand finish.
“We will look at it and learn from it. Now we have got four tough league games in the Six Nations period and that is our focus.
“We are still in good fettle. We’re still top of the Guinness Premiership, we are scoring more tries than most teams and conceding less.”
Tigers return to Guinness Premiership duty on Sunday with a trip to Leeds Carnegie before the next home game, against Gloucester on Saturday, February 20 (3pm). Tickets are available now.
