‘The players had to hang in there - and if you do that, you’ve always got a chance’

STEVE Borthwick praised his Leicester Tigers players for “sticking in the battle” to secure victory over Saracens.

A dramatic late penalty try secured a 13-12 victory at Mattioli Woods Welford Road to back up victories over Exeter Chiefs and Gloucester.

After the Gallagher Premiership round three win, this is what the Tigers head coach had to say…

Q: Was that strong finish something you had targeted with your selection, and can you talk a little bit about the changes that you made and your thoughts going into the game?

Steve Borthwick: “So my thoughts going into the game is that you are playing Saracens, and they’re a superb team, incredibly well-coached, and you’ve got to stay in the battle, and the players did that.

“They hung on in there. I thought Saracens were playing really, really well. Credit to the players for sticking in the battle, and they managed to, and we were fortunate in the end to come out with the victory. Plenty of lessons for us to learn, mind, for the way Saracens managed that first half.”

Q: Did you always believe you could do it?

SB: “I think when you’re staying in touch you’ve got a chance. That was the main thing, you’ve got to try to stay in touch with them. They’re brilliant at building pressure. They’re brilliant at building a score.

“They’ve done that for, I think it’s 12 years, isn’t it, that Mark’s (McCall) been there? So, they’re superb at that, what we’ve got to do is try to stay in there, and we managed to do it, and that gave us a chance.

Q: This place was pretty loud and it hasn’t been like that for a while. That must be pleasing for you?

SB: “I think that pleases me most. I’d say two things - one, supporters here and all around the country, (after what) supporters have been going through, people have had a tough time this past 18 months. So it’s great to see them back and hopefully bring some joy to them.

“The second thing is, hopefully, the supporters are proud of the team, I never talk about wins and losses. I talk about putting in performances that we can be proud of, that our supporters can be proud of. We could easily have lost that game, but I think the supporters would still be proud of how hard their team fought. I’m pleased that we obviously got the result.”

Q: Best start in six years for Leicester as well - that must be pretty special?

SB: “Well, I didn’t know that, so thank you very much for telling me. I tend not to look back and tend not to look too far forward. So I think I’ve said to you before, once the final whistle is blown and my head’s turned to next week’s game.

“We play London Irish away next Saturday, and that’s where my focus is. I think if you get caught thinking too far back, you’ll end up staying in the history. If you think too far forward, you’ll miss what’s right in front of you, so I keep it very, very simple.”

Q: Just on Jack van Poortvliet and how the kicking game changed after that, it seemed to swing your way in the second half. But the first half was tough?

SB: “Yes - to come in at half-time 9-3 playing into the wind in those conditions against a Saracens team, and then coming out after half-time, and helping us try to start that second half well... I thought that Ben (Youngs) did really well managing that.

“And then there’s an ability to make some changes, with Ellis and Freddie and JVP and Juan Pablo Socino and the other guys that came on, Harry Wells. I was able to bring on some fresh legs on to the pitch.”