Clermont Auvergne 30 Leicester 12: Leicester will lick wounds and get set to go again – Cockerill

This defeat at Stade Marcel Michelin was the first in Heineken Cup Pool 4 for the Tigers this season, and meant a fall to third place at the midway stage.

But there are only two points separating themselves and Clermont at the top, and Cockerill is looking to his players to bridge that gap at home next Saturday.

“We stuck in there and we did deny them a bonus point.

“That means there are still points to play for when we bring them back to Welford Road next weekend.

“We will just crack on in this competition,” said Cockerill

“The best side won on the day and obviously the yellow cards didn’t help us. We have to go home, lick our wounds and prepare for next week’s return game.

“The atmosphere in Clermont is pretty volatile. The crowd cheer and everybody is lying on the floor like they have been shot.

“The referee deals with the decision as he sees fit. Alan Rolland is a good referee and he dealt with it.”

England scrum-half Ben Youngs grabbed the first try of the game and the Tigers’ scrum earned them a penalty try at the finish to at least give them hope of turning the result around next weekend.

But Cockerill was unhappy that his side failed to make the most of their scoring chances and gifted Clermont a try just before the interval through a dropped ball in their 22.

“We had chances in their 22 in the first half and we didn’t take them – you have to take them at this level. You also have to kick your points when you get an opportunity and we didn’t do that either,” said Cockerill.

“On balance, they probably deserved to win and I am not complaining about the result. They had opportunities and they took the chances well.

“The score before half-time hurt us and then in the second half we had two guys in the bin at the same time.

“It cost us seven points and they are a world class team on the front foot – we really got punished then.”

The Tigers, who had won their previous two pool games against Italian outfit Aironi and Ulster, paid a heavy price for their own indiscipline.

Hooker George Chuter and England centre Manu Tuilagi were both sin-binned in the 50th minute leaving the Tigers with 13-men for 10 minutes.

The Tigers had been under extreme pressure after the interval and were set back further when they lost hooker Chuter and centre Tuilagi, both for dangerous play.

The pair were punished for high tackles on Para and Vincent Debaty respectively in the same attacking move and the Tigers never recovered.

Clermont made the most of their two-man advantage to record their 35th consecutive home victory in front of a partisan 18,000 crowd at the intimidating Stade Marcel Michelin.

The visitors were at least awarded a consolation penalty try after Clermont collapsed a scrum in the shadow of their own posts.