Michael Cheika praised the resilience of his side for their resilience and fight in the Gallagher Premiership Final defeat to Bath Rugby.
Trailing 20-7 with just over 15 minutes remaining, Cheika's side got within two points of Bath, 23-21, to fall agonisingly short in a bid to claim the 24/25 title.
Speaking after the game, the Leicester Tigers Head Coach said: “We have an expression we used this season, which is ‘embrace the heat’. We want to revel in that scenario."
“Early on, maybe we didn’t understand how to get around those situations – we did today. I couldn't be prouder of the lads for that. From all different avenues, fires were going on everywhere ... we got back into the game every time, and that shows in the three tries to two scoreline."
A 9:5 penalty count against his team meant it was not just the scoreboard that was an uphill battle and the Head Coach was asked about that challenge when he faced the media following the match.
"With reason, it’s clear what was going on in the scrum. I’ve never seen it before in my life," said Cheika.
"Dominating like that and getting nothing, zero. In fact getting penalised against us... nine penalties to two; I don’t believe that we were that much more foul than them. So yeah, it was frustrating to say the least."
Late in the game, Dan Cole was shown a yellow card after a charge down attempt from the front rower was ruled as a late tackle, and, when pressed on the decision, Cheika said: "What do I say, mate? If I say something, I take away from the champion team, who led the competition all year, and they’ve won the competition now and deservedly so."
"I’ve got my feelings, but I’ll take it up with the officials formally."
Looking back on his season in charge, which saw Leicester Tigers reach the Final after finishing 8th a year ago, Cheika pointed towards the foundations for future success he hoped to have helped build at the club.
"We’ve been working hard to establish a winning mindset here. Not necessarily always on field results, but in how we approach our day-to-day," he said.
"Belief in ourselves and how we can compete at the top level, because maybe belief was down there a little bit at the start of the year, and we’ve had some hiccups at the start of the year, we were able to come back from.
"I feel like inside of the group, yes, there are some players leaving, but there’s that group in the middle there that I’ve got a lot of belief in; only two of the starting team won’t be here next year. There are new players coming in next year that are going to add things as well.
"We take the things we’ve got from this year, probably more from a mental perspective, than more so the technical part and keep those things.
On his relationship with the group moving forward, he added: "With all the players I’ve ever coached, I will always be your coach. So if they ever need anything from me, they’ve got it.
"But if they can take that intangible around belief and the standards you need to be able to compete, then it won’t be long until they are on that podium themselves."
