We’ve had some harsh words with ourselves... we’re ready for today

MURPHY CONFIDENT ERRORS PUT TO BED

LEICESTER Tigers head coach Geordan Murphy will be hoping that the errors made last weekend at the Madejski Stadium will have long been put to bed by the time his side run out against Pau at Welford Road this afternoon.

Murphy, pictured, put the 36-11 defeat against London Irish largely down to the errors committed by his side, not helped by a smattering of indiscipline.

Murphy said there had been some “harsh words” in the wake of the loss to Irish and it is evident that both the error count and lack of discipline have come into focus as Tigers look to get back on the winning trail against Pau.

“We trained very well last week, we prepared well (for Irish),” Murphy said.

“The nature of sport is that you have to get back up and worry about the next week’s result.

“The important thing is that we had to review that, have some very harsh words with ourselves and appreciate that we have to be better across the board.

“I appreciate everyone is disappointed, no more so than the players and coaches. But you can’t wallow in the misery, you have to get up, learn the lessons and get back out next week.”

Murphy believes Pau will bring plenty of ambition with them to Welford Road after a solid start to the season back in France.

“They have been playing great rugby and Conrad Smith has been doing a great job with them,” Murphy said. “They are a quality outfit.

“They won’t have any fear about coming to Welford Road, in that they have won already on the road in the Top 14 which traditionally has been tough for French teams. They’ll come trying to get a win.”

The opening exchanges are going to be key. Tigers need to set the tone not simply to get a foothold in the game, but to make sure that their confidence builds.

And more than anything they have to be clinical. Off the back of a strong set-piece last weekend, they did create opportunities but were not accurate enough to finish them off.

In contrast, Irish took the chances they created to leave Tigers in no doubt about where the game got away from them.