Cockerill praises Exeter
Leicester director of rugby Richard Cockerill has paid tribute to Exeter after the newly promoted side narrowly lost 37-27 at Welford Road over the weekend.
Exeter went into the game with no one giving them any chance of getting close to Leicester. However, Exeter was 27-16 up with only 15 minutes of the game remaining.
Cockerill says the spirit and the quality that Exeter showed during the game demonstrates that there is very little difference in the teams up and down the Premiership table. It was a test that Leicester will be glad to have come through.
Exeter can take a lot from the game over the weekend. It's important to remember that the club's main aim this season is survival. Leicester is going to be happy that players did not panic under pressure when a win was needed after the defeat to Northampton last week.
Positive Exeter
The biggest plus that Exeter can take from this game is the fact that the players did not look out of place. Welford Road can be a very intimidating ground to go to but every single Exeter player appeared as though anxiety was a problem for them.
Creativity was high within the Exeter team. This is not something that everyone expects from Exeter because the side does not have too many big name impact players. However, the side found a way of playing and create enough space to score three tries.
Fitness levels were good and this enabled Exeter to compete into the closing stages of the game. The mistakes that allowed Leicester to get in front were individual errors but collectively the team continued to compete and did not look fatigued.
Cockerill said: "I didn't know what to expect (from Exeter) but I do now and so does the rest of the Premiership. You have to give them a huge amount of credit; they gave us an almighty fright. We could talk about how poor we were, but you have to give them credit and they are a good team who will cause a lot of problems for a lot of people."
An important win
It was very important for Leicester to get points on the board following the defeat to Northampton. Another defeat to Exeter would have piled the pressure on Leicester but now the side can build up some momentum.
It's still too early on in the season for one or two defeats to have a huge say on where a club will finish. However, Leicester is the Premiership champions and it's important for the side to send out the right impressions all the time.
Cockerill added: "For me it's a repeat of pre-season and last week (against Northampton). You have to keep hold of the ball and build pressure, and in defence we were a little soft and were falling off tackles, but we will fix that. Everybody is happy with the five points but not the performance."
Betting advice
Leicester is going to be one of the teams at the top of the table by the end of the season. It's very naive to think that the side won't make the top four and Bath's bad start last season showed there is plenty of time over a Premiership campaign.
The big guns in the Leicester team have not fired as yet. Jeremy Staunton looks like the best bet in the team at the moment as he is scoring a lot of points at fly-half.
Don't hesitate in backing Exeter to stay up this year. Exeter does not look out of place in the Premiership and has put together two very good performances against stronger teams so far this season.
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