Leicester Tigers claimed a bonus point with four tries in the first half, but let a 30-18 lead slip while claiming a second bonus point from the 37-30 defeat.
Asked for his immediate reaction to events at Adams Park, Tigers director of rugby Cockerill said: “It’s very disappointing and frustrating when you score four tries away from home and play some really good stuff but come away without the win.
“But if you turn over ball against dangerous sides you will get punished. The game is so open and frenetic this season, if you are not accurate in your work you get punished. When we were accurate in the first half we punished them and then in the second half when we were not accurate they punished us.
“Every game and every point is important. The two we’ve picked up today will be vital come the shake-up – but we would have liked five.
“We had the opportunity to win it and pick up an outstanding result and we’re bitterly disappointed. It’s hard to take but we have to deal with it.
“We played some good stuff but in the second half we made too many mistakes which allowed them back into the game.”
Cockerill also emphasised the positives to take out of a result which took Tigers on to seven points from the opening three rounds of Aviva Premiership action.
“We’re scoring plenty of tries,” he said. “And we can score even more if we keep hold of the ball and control it better.
“We played very, very well at times, but we turned the ball over or lost the ball too easily in the second half.”
Another positive was the return of Tom Croft for his first start of the season, though fly-half Jeremy Staunton sat out the second half after picking up a knock which meant a reshuffle in the Tigers backline.
“Crofty was outstanding, and you look in the forwards where Ed Slater did a manful job in his first start at this level, George Skivington had a good game, Thomas Waldrom carried well,” added Cockerill.
“Ben Youngs is getting back to top form, and Billy Twelvetrees and Manu Tuilagi are young men without much experience at this level but they will be better for the experience of coming through that game."
Tigers return to home soil on Saturday when Leeds Carnegie are the visitors to Welford Rod. Kick-off is at 3pm. Tickets are available now.
