Watch my new Tigers tear it up warns Cockerill

RICHARD Cockerill threw down the gauntlet to champions Saracens and backed his new world class Tigers recruits to help lift the club back to the top of the Premiership.

The Leicester boss is excited at having a fully-fit Manu Tuilagi finally ready to explode back into the action at Kingsholm on Friday night and he’s also looking forward to seeing JP Pietersen and Matt Toomua add extra skill, power and sharpness to his Tigers attacking teeth.

Cockerill told TRP: “Sarries are a good side but it will be interesting around the England situation as they have a lot of guys getting picked and we have less these days. So there is the dynamic around that, but there is no doubt they have dominated.

“We have strengthened our squad very well, and I could not be happier with the guys we’ve got in the squad. We’ve spent more on that back line than we have ever spent because we have bought quality. Since Anthony Allen retired we have missed that link and we have solved that with Toomua.

“Then good forwards want to come and play with good forwards. It makes it an easy sell when you speak to world class players and say you can play with this back line.

“There is some really quality in there. Manu, Betham and Veianu are very strong runners with the ball and can break through gaps.

“Ben Youngs, Freddie Burns, Owen Williams, Adam Thompstone and Matt Smith are all dangerous guys and do a good job. There is a lot of things to be excited about if we are all fit and healthy. We bought those guys for a reason. That’s to make ourselves more competitive.