Richard Cockerill urges Munster fans to back Anthony Foley

Leicester Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill sprang to the defence of Anthony Foley last night, saying the province’s supporters should back their under-pressure coach to see the province through its current run of bad form.

Cockerill was celebrating his side’s second win in eight days over Foley having steered Tigers to a 31-19 win at Thomond Park in the Champions Cup round three before returning to Welford Road last night and seeing them overcome an improved Munster side 17-6 to stay unbeaten after four games in the competition. The former Tigers hooker said the home win had been more difficult to achieve and credited head coach Foley with making it such a tough night for his side.

“We were under pressure for large amounts and were probably a bit fortunate to get as big a win as we did,” Cockerill said.

“I thought Munster were really good today. Foley did a great job preparing them to come here and, if you look at the detail of the game, and don’t just look at the result, Munster were very good tonight and probably unlucky not to get more out of it.

“Anthony Foley’s had a lot of stick, he’s a good coach, a Munster man — third generation as far as I’m led to believe — and he’s doing a hard, difficult job. We coaches stick together, because it’s difficult at times. Leicester are a good club, this puts us in a really good place now on 18 points with Treviso at home and Stade away. It puts up in a good position to qualify, we just have to do it now.

“Munster were good tonight, that shouldn’t go unnoticed, people should support Anthony Foley like Leicester did myself. You can build something good around good people.”

Cockerill will take Leicester into their final two games in Pool 4 with an eight point lead at the top of the group having played one more game than both Stade Francais and Munster, whose round two clash in Paris was postponed due to the terrorist attacks in November. Yet he refused to take qualification or a home quarter-final for granted.

“We’re unbeaten in the pool, that’s huge. With respect to Treviso, you’d expect to beat Treviso here so that puts us on 22, 23 points going into the final game. Qualification is in our own hands and where — hopefully — we’ll play a quarter-final will be in our own hands and that’s what we wanted at the start. Look, Stade and Munster have still got to play and we’ve still got to go to Stade Francais. Sport can bite you on the backside if you’re not careful.”

Cockerill, who advanced Tom Youngs’ case as not only a better hooker for England than Northampton’s Dylan Hartley but also a potential Test captain, was also bullish about his side’s defensive effort against Munster.

“Three bits of defensive play saved the game for us, the attitude of our players was outstanding. I’m a bit disappointed at how we played tonight, but we found a way to win like we did last week. Munster played really well and will be disappointed to get nothing out of the game.”