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A happy return to work at Leicester Tigers for Richard Cockerill and Co

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Leicester Tigers have started work on the defence of their Aviva Premiership title by returning to work at their Oval Park training base.

Just four weeks after lifting the cup following the 37-17 win against local rivals Northampton Saints, many of the club's players started their lengthy pre-season programme.

Under the guidance of director of rugby Richard Cockerill and new backs coaches Paul Burke and Geordan Murphy, the Tigers squad have begun the arduous task of getting their bodies in shape after a month's R&R. And it will be the club's head of strength and conditioning, Alex Martin, calling most of the shots during the first weeks of pre-season, as cardiovascular (CV) work and gym-based weights sessions dominate their schedule.

Cockerill said he will return to work "happy and relieved" after landing a third title during his five years in charge at the club.

He believes retaining that title will be as hard as ever with other teams wanting to knock the champions off their perch.

"Every season is hard and, last season, we had our ups and downs," he said.

"But we know that during the length of the campaign, we are as good as anyone and I would hope we would be in there fighting again this time around.

"Any one of the top four sides last season could have won the title and maybe, during the course of the season, Saracens may have been the best team.

"But I was really pleased with our lads for putting in all of that work and getting some reward.

"I am always one for looking forward and concentrating on getting the job done again but, I suppose, looking back over my five years here, it is satisfying to know that we have won the title in three of those years."

Cockerill, and the rest of the Tigers squad, will be getting used to several new faces in the set-up for the 2013-14 campaign, and the likes of flanker Jamie Gibson (London Irish) and hooker Neil Briggs (London Welsh), as well as Perpignan duo Jerome Schuster and David Mele, have already been in the city getting settled.

"We will be getting to know them and vice-versa," said Cockerill. "We do our due diligence before signing any player, but there are sides to their personalities that you only see when you work with them.

"It's all about getting them to fit into how we do things here at Leicester and not the other way around. By and large, that usually works quite well."

Tigers begin their pre-season action against Montpellier, in Geneva, in early August.

A happy return to work at Leicester Tigers for Richard Cockerill and Co


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