“I was delighted with the effort of the whole squad,” said Cockerill after a 29-15 victory which took Tigers into the top four in the Guinness Premiership table.
“We have had a difficult week, then we lost Richard Blaze ahead of the game, but the spirit of the team and the club came through, and you could not have asked for any more.
“You cannot buy what we have got.
“It was not pretty at times, we made some mistakes, but we got up and we worked hard.
“It was all about the will to win and to work hard. We looked like we believed we could win it.”
Calum Green was drafted into the second row after Blaze joined six England players and a lengthy list of injury absentees on the sidelines, and the young lock played his part in a hard-earned win.
“Credit to all of the players,” Cockerill said. “We did not even talk about who was missing, we just talked about preparing well and trying to win the game.
“They all worked for each other, they played as hard as they can and thankfully came out on the right end of it.
“We prided ourselves on the squad getting us through last year and today, more than ever, the squad got us through.
“I could not ask for any more from the young lads. The Academy are doing a great job and you can see what it means for these young lads like Calum to play for the club.”
Tigers have won four of the opening seven league games, as well as gaining a draw at Bath, and sit fourth in the table on 20 points.
“This is a massive win in terms of the season and also in terms of the belief it will give the squad,” added Cockerill.
“It puts us into the top four with a couple of weeks coming up away from the Guinness Premiership to hopefully gather some bodies and then come back a bit stronger.”
Tigers host world champions South Africa in a sell-out match to officially open the Caterpillar Stand on Friday before going into the opening two rounds of the LV= Cup, with a trip to Leeds Carnegie on Sunday followed by a home game against Newport Gwent Dragons on Saturday, November 14 (3pm). Tickets are on sale now, phone the hotline on 0844 856 1880, book online or call in at Welford Road.
