Michael Cheika heralds Leicester Tigers’ ability to ‘be in the pressure cooker’ in victory over Exeter
Michael Cheika got off to the perfect start as Leicester Tigers boss at Sandy Park
Leicester Tigers head coach Michael Cheika detailed his delight at his side’s ability to ‘be in the pressure cooker’ in their dramatic 17-14 win over Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park.
The Tigers were behind 14-3 heading into the final quarter and also saw centre Solomone Kata sent off for a high tackle, but late scores from Hanro Liebenberg and Tommy Reffell ensured they left the West Country with four points.
“Playing the long game”
Speaking to the media after the game, Cheika said he he felt his side “worked hard” in “difficult circumstances” today.
“It feels good! Even if we didn’t get the last bit over, I felt like we really worked hard under difficult circumstances. We talked about playing the long game earlier in the week, not being too anxious to get things going early on,” Cheika said.
“You need to be in the pressure cooker of the game and be prepared to defend for long periods of time.”
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“I felt like the way we played the long game, we were always going to be in it right until the end. We didn’t panic – even me!”
Leicester were also reduced to 14-men early in the first-half, with Izaia Perese copping a yellow card, but they avoided conceding any points in either of those periods of time.
The Tigers were on the back foot for much of the first-half, but a cheeky drop-goal from Jamie Shillcock gave them a 3-0 lead at the break, before the scores from Liebenberg and Reffell – with the Welshman crossing in the 82nd minute – ensured a famous victory.
“I thought the game had a lot of physicality to it,” Cheika continued. “Exeter certainly aren’t shy, they’ll come at you and have big fellas who run hard and you have to be on your game; but I thought our physicality was good.”
‘Mental fitness’
This is certainly the sort of game Leicester would have lost last season, but they certainly stuck at it for the whole 80 – or 82 – minutes today.
Commenting on this, Cheika said his side had worked hard on their mental fitness in pre-season, which helped them get over the line against the Chiefs.
“I know about what happened last season, and I know they’ve worked really hard in the pre-season; and they’ve been in some difficult situations and they had to change. Not change in a negative way, but just different ideology of what fitness means. Fitness isn’t just running around, it’s mental fitness,” he added.
Cheika and his band of merry men now turn their attention to a tough home fixture against last season’s runners-up Bath, who will come to Mattioli Woods Welford Road with plenty of confidence after they dispatched Northampton 38-16 in their opener last night.
