Tigers head to St Affrique in southern France for a week-long training camp, which includes a first run out of pre-season against Montpellier, last year’s Top 14 runners-up, on Monday evening.
Director of rugby Cockerill says his players face a tough week which will bring them even closer together as a squad.
“The best way to bond is to work hard on the training field,” says Cockerill. “We will do lots of scrummaging and lineouts and tackling and organisation so that when they get back to their rooms they talk about how hard their day was.
“For me, it's about working hard, getting prepared and knowing you are ready to play the season.
“There’s nothing better than watching the bloke next to you working really hard because there’s a good chance he will do that on a Saturday when you are playing.
“We will have a couple of days training and play Montpellier on Monday night. We have been doing a lot of preparation and getting everybody up to speed. We will put that to the test on Monday and we will have something to work from then.”
Steve Mafi, who has been released by Tonga from their World Cup preparations, will link up with the squad, and Cockerill said that club captain Geordan Murphy would play some part in Monday’s game against Montpellier.
Murphy, who missed a large chunk of last season with an ankle injury, is in the Ireland training squad ahead of the World Cup and will link up with his Tigers teammates for the summer camp.
“Geordan is with Ireland training fully and is going to come with us,” says Cockerill. “He will play for us. We want to give him, and all of our guys, the best opportunity to go to the World Cup.”
