Proud Cockerill: 'Sometimes you lose'
Sat, 23 Jan 2010 20:09
Leicester Tigers head coach Richard Cockerill admitted his side weren't quite good enough to progress to the knockout stages after their European dream ended with defeat at the Ospreys on Saturday afternoon.
The Tigers were beaten 17-12 at the Liberty Stadium as they failed to qualify for the last eight for just the fourth time in 13 seasons.
The 2001 and 2002 Heineken Cup winners finished Pool 3 in third place, although late pressure in Swansea almost saw them pip the Ospreys to a quarter-final spot as one of two best runners up.
But while Leicester came close to what would have a remarkable repeat of their memorable victory at the same stadium back in December 2005, Cockerill made no excuses for his side’s European exit.
"It was a good game, a good contest and somebody's going to lose. That was us today," said Cockerill, after an enthralling Round Six encounter.
"There’s plenty of times when we've won those tight games, like against Cardiff Blues last year in the semi-final.
"Sometimes you get the luck, sometimes you don't. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.
"We lost today and I've got to be big enough and the Club have to be big enough to say that, in this tournament, we weren’t quite good enough.”
Cockerill admitted that limited opportunities meant that when a chance did present itself, it had to be taken. The Tigers failed to do that, with the Ospreys crossing for the game’s only try courtesy of Tommy Bowe four minutes before the break.
"In the first half we looked to build a score and in the second half we probably didn't have enough field position to take advantage," added Cockerill.
"The three or four bits that we did have, especially at the end, that's the game then. You have to score then, and we didn't. That's the way the cards fall sometimes.
"They kicked well and we didn't catch and kick well enough to put them under pressure.
"With the way the game was being refereed, if you carried the ball you were generally going to get the penalties. That's not a criticism of the referee, that’s just the way it is. That’s not the referee's fault - that’s our fault for not being good enough."
ERC
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