Geordan Murphy hails Leicester Tigers’ composure

Editor

Leicester Tigers boss Geordan Murphy praised his side’s composure in gaining a bonus-point win over Gloucester at Welford Road on Saturday.

Two tries from Jonny May against his former club and scores from Jonah Holmes and George Ford pushed Tigers to a 34-16 victory and closed the gap on third place in the Premiership table to just four points after 12 rounds of action.

Head coach Murphy, celebrating a second successive bonus-point win on home turf and a winning start to the new year, said: “It’s the kind of performance we’ve been aspiring to since the start of the season.

“We’ve played in fits and starts all through the season but not been as consistent as we were today. We put in an 80-minute performance, there were a lot of positives and things we can be proud of and build on.

“The boys showed we’re not a poor defensive side when we get our stuff right. Gloucester are an attacking side and we kept them out other than that intercept.

“We’ve been under a bit of pressure, we’ve put ourselves under a lot of pressure, and it is nice to get the win. We were a lot more composed and the win is massive.

“The team played well, you can’t really fault any of the guys.”

Murphy remains positive that the team can continue to improve as Tigers face a five-week break from Premiership action, with focus switching to the Champions Cup dates with the Scarlets and Ulster, followed by the Premiership Rugby Cup.

“I’ve seen a lot of positive pictures in a lot of games,” he said. “Everyone is talking about how competitive the league is and it’s about stringing results together.

“It’s not perfect from us, but we have world-class players and still have some guys to come back in who will add to the squad in coming weeks and hopefully we will just keep getting better.”