Richard Cockerill has warned Leicester that they cannot afford to repeat the errors they made in Saturday's win over London Irish.
Leicester boss picks holes in comeback win against Exiles
Leicester director of rugby Richard Cockerill has warned his side that they cannot afford to repeat the errors they made during Saturday's win over London Irish.
The hosts trailed 23-8 with 15 minutes remaining at Welford Road but ran in four unanswered tries in the closing stages to complete a remarkable turnaround.
Cockerill was delighted with the way his team were able to secure the win, but believes the Tigers will not get a second chance if they make the same mistakes against Northampton in their play-off semi-final next Saturday.
"We dominated possession but we were a bit loose with that possession at times, and we won't get away with that next week," he said.
"If you give Saints a 15-point lead then you're unlikely to claw it back."
Spirit
"The spirit was never in doubt and even when we were those 15 points down, we were still trying to play and we knew we would get opportunities to win it.
"It was great character to come back into it but we're better than that. We can't chuck those passes: one's a mistake and two is negligent. Then we came out six points down and gave them an intercept.
"It was good to finish it off properly, but it was disappointing we got ourselves into the hole in the first place really."
Cockerill also expressed displeasure at referee Greg Garner for not showing the yellow card for repeated infringements at the scrum with the Tigers camped on their opponents' line.
He added: "We feel the referee didn't reward the team that was trying to play. There were 11 penalties in their 22 against them, but no yellow cards. I find that a bit hard to take when we were actually trying to play."
Prediction
London Irish boss Toby Booth said his side's inability to clear the danger was the main reason behind the loss and predicted that Leicester will go on to take the Aviva Premiership title.
"If you can't get out of your 22m for that length of time, you're going to struggle. Leicester are a very, very good, committed side that will go on to win the Premiership," he said.
Booth was quick to praise Exiles centre Jonathan Joseph, who held his own in a tremendous battle with opposite number Manu Tuilagi.
"Jonathan Joseph, who had a very, very good start to the season then got injured for a very long period of time, came back and performed like he did in a physical contest where he is probably about half the weight of Manu," he said.
"The long-term future is bright, but the long-term challenge for us as a club is that we're not reliant on these youngsters every week, and that's the difference. It's great to fast track them but we need to make sure they learn as they go and develop them."