Leicester Tigers skipper Tom Youngs is ‘massively disappointed’ with the loss at Sale, but says that his side’s effort will see them right in games to come.

The hooker was a picture of frustration after the final whistle, but explained Tigers only need to make minor tweaks before results will go their way.

“The effort was there, and I can’t ask for much more than that,” he said. “This group has grown so much in the last three weeks.

“We haven’t got the results we wanted – we dug one out against Wasps which was massive – and then a short turnaround to come up to Sale, so it’s a tough ask.

“But am I disappointed? Yes, because there were still opportunities for us to score tries.

“We mucked up a maul and little bits like that, and there were still chances for us to do stuff in that game.”

Tigers scored the first try through tighthead prop Facundo Gigena, and trailed just 10-5 at half time despite playing into the worst of the weather over the first 40 minutes and riding out an early yellow card for Joe Ford.

The visiting side had also been forced into late changes just minutes before kick off when George Worth pulled up in the warm-up, leading to a reshuffle in the backs and 18-year-old Freddie Steward taking Jordan Olowofela’s place on the bench.

Youngs continued: “We started well. We came up here with a lot of belief, and I said to the boys before [that] all I want is 110% effort for each other and to keep working, and I can’t say much more than that.

“Suddenly you’re relying on these young guys and they’re under huge amounts of pressure trying to run the game, and that’s very hard for them.

“They’ll learn a huge amount from this. We’re on a journey at the moment, and if they can take a massive amount of experience out of today to take it forwards, then that’s what I want to focus on and look at.

“Let’s work on it and crack on.”