Leicester v Aironi, Heineken Cup, January 21
Cockerill underwhelmed by 'average' Tigers
January 21, 2012
Report Reaction Match details Gallery
Aironi fly-half Naas Olivier lands a penalty, Leicester v Aironi, Heineken Cup, Welford Road, Leicester, England, January 21, 2012
Naas Olivier lands one of two penalties for Aironi, who proved a tough workout for Leicester © Getty Images
Enlarge
Related Links
Tournaments/Tours: Heineken Cup

Leicester boss Richard Cockerill admitted his team's European campaign finished on a "pretty average" note with an unconvincing 33-6 Heineken Cup win over Aironi at Welford Road.

The Tigers took a considerable amount of time to subdue the battling Italians and led only 9-6 at the interval before four second half tries gave them a comfortable victory.

Clermont's narrow home win over Ulster ensured the Tigers finished in 3rd place in Pool 4.

"The game reflected the importance of it," Cockerill said. "We couldn't see Clermont losing without a bonus point so we knew there was very little hope of us progressing. We didn't get going and it was a pretty average performance."

The Leicester forwards - with excellent performances from Tom Croft, Thomas Waldrom and Ed Slater - enjoyed ample possession but behind the scrum Leicester badly missed the defence-breaking skills of Toby Flood and Manu Tuilagi.

"A number of our boys had a good run out and nobody is injured but we tried to force the game too early and made too many errors in our passing," Cockerill said.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

Live Sports

Communication error please reload the page.

ABOUT COOKIES

To help make this website better, to improve and personalize your experience and for advertising purposes, are you happy to accept cookies and other technologies.

More Info Here Cookie Choices