‘He’s got a lot of bottle’ – Cockerill

Editor

Leicester director of rugby Richard Cockerill praised fly-half Owen Williams after his late penalty helped them defeat Munster on Saturday.

His kick from 52 metres saw the Tigers win 18-16 in a result that keeps alive their hopes of qualifying for the Champions Cup knockouts.

It was quite a turnaround for Leicester as they lost 38-0 to the same opposition at Thomond Park last week, leaving Cockerill delighted.

“Owen’s a great fella, he has got a lot of bottle and a lot of minerals to have a crack and fair play to him. Me and Aaron Mauger sat there in silence praying to god for it to go over because we needed it,” the boss told EPC Rugby at the end of the absorbing European meeting.

“It was a true reflection of what the players can do. We were really poor last week and at no point did we try and escape that fact. The players knew they would bring a response, Munster are a good side. Even if we had lost by a point today, I still would have been proud of the way they performed.

“When we went a point down, I was just hoping the boys could kick-off and get the ball back. We still had three minutes on the clock, and you’ve always got a chance to win the game, as we saw. Anything can happen and you just have to keep battling away until the referee decides it’s the end of the game.”