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Warm work for Tigers in Treviso training week

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The heat and humidity of Treviso may not have been familiar conditions in an Aviva Premiership season, but they helped Leicester Tigers to get everything they wanted out of the pre-season trip to northern Italy.

Tigers spent a week in camp at Treviso’s training ground before the two sides met in a pre-season fixture on Friday evening when tries from Jono Kitto (2), Manu Tuilagi, Adam Thompstone and Luke Hamilton secured a 33-10 victory in front of a crowd of more than 4,000.
 
“It was humid and warm, which made it a test of our conditioning work and our fitness, while Treviso are always awkward opponents," said Tigers director of rugby Richard COckerill. "They’re strong at the breakdown, they’re physical and their set-piece goes well. It was just what we wanted.
 
“We scored five tries and got more gametime into the bulk of the squad. The boys also know they’ve been in a contest, which is great. We also saw areas where we need to keep working in readiness for that first game of the new season.
 
“We’ve had a good week, the boys have worked hard and we put a lot of that work into a good game.
 
“Treviso were great hosts, the coaches met up and we were very well looked after. But we also worked hard and trained hard, with intensity.”
 
England duo Dan Cole and Ben Youngs joined the training camp after reporting back to the club last week and they were joined by South Africa international wing JP Pietersen who flew into Heathrow on Monday morning and met up with his new colleagues in time to make the trip to Italy.
 
“We’ve got just about everybody back together, which is great,” said Cockerill. “There is only Matt Toomua to come now.
 
“There are a few bumps and bruises from pre-season but fitness looks good and a game like this, and in those conditions, can only help with that.
 
“We’ve still got a bit of quality to add to this squad with guys who haven’t played yet in this pre-season, but they’re not far away and it is a long season.”
 
Tigers end the pre-season programme with two home fixtures this Friday. First, Championship side Nottingham arrive at Oval Park (4pm) and then Tigers face the Ospreys at Welford Road (7.45pm) in a return fixture following the trip to Wales a week ago.
 
The Ospreys game is included in Tigers season tickets. For all other supporters, match tickets are available now from the Tigers ticket office.