Moments after hearing the final whistle of a 17-12 defeat by the Ospreys in Swansea which confirmed elimination from the Heineken Cup, Tigers head coach Cockerill said: “The players are gutted. It was a good contest, but somebody has to lose and unfortunately that was us today.
"We have come through these tight games plenty of times, but not this time. Sometimes you get the luck, sometimes you don’t, sometimes you get the win, sometimes you lose.
“The test of a good side and good people is how they deal with adversity and losing. We have to dust ourselves off, and we’ve still got the Guinness Premiership and the Anglo-Welsh Cup.
“It was a horrendously tough pool, with three sides who have the potential to qualify and have a chance of going on and winning it.
“We are a big club, and a humble club, if you win you have to take it and if you lose you take it.”
Tigers trailed 14-9 at half-time after a try from Ospreys wing Tommy Bowe, but a penalty from Toby Flood cut the deficit to just two points before Ospreys fly-half Dan Biggar landed his third penalty of the day and the hosts held out against a late surge from the defending English champions.
“We had chances to win the game,” said Cockerill. “They took their try well and that proved the difference on the day. You are dealing with very narrow margins.
"But give them credit for keeping their composure at critical times and for putting us under pressure so we were unable to execute properly.”
