Leicester's acting head coach Richard Cockerill was impressed with his side's resilience against Sale.
Leicester boss pleased with spirit of 14-men Tigers
Leicester's acting head coach Richard Cockerill was impressed with his side's resilience as they played with 14 men and still beat Sale.
The Tigers recorded a 37-31 win over the Sharks at Welford Road despite Julian White's 23rd-minute sending off for punching England team-mate Andrew Sheridan.
Leicester moved to the top of the Guinness Premiership as a result and Cockerill praised his side's mental strength for the win.
"We just had to keep the belief that we could still play," Cockerill said. "Sometimes it can affect you psychologically when you go a man down.
"We have a good scrum and we want to use it as a weapon and Julian's physicality is a key.
Credit
"You have to take off a back-row forward which leaves you short in other areas. But the players have to take the credit because they played off their wits a lot of the time.
"They did a lot of things that we don't practise because of the scenario we were in. I thought, considering what went on during the game, the boys were fantastic.
"We said at half-time that it was all about doing your jobs as best you could do and looking at the scoreboard at the end and see what the score was.
"It was that sort of day and credit lies with the players because the spirit and camaraderie they showed today was second to none.
"Today was about the players, the club and the supporters and the boys fronted up."
Punishment
Cockerill declined to be drawn on what sort of punishment White could expect for being sent off for the first time in his career but said that Leicester had cover for him.
"If he's done it and he's got a red then he will get the punishment that fits the crime," he said.
"We have Martin Castrogiovanni and Dan Cole has done really well for us so it's a position where we do have some players."
Sale's head coach Kingsley Jones insisted his side did not relax after White's dismissal, and was not happy with conceding tries against 14 men.
"I said at half-time that often when a side has a player sent off the other team takes their foot off the gas," he said.
"I asked our players at the end if they thought that happened in the second half and the simple answer was no.
"But you can't concede five tries against 14 men. We know Welford Road is a tough place to come to but we have no-one to blame but ourselves.
"We got a bonus point as consolation, but our lineout creaked, we defended poorly from first phase and you have to play for 80 minutes.
"Time and time again we let Leicester off the hook and conceded two or three easy tries."
