Leicester Tigers wasted possession - Richard Cockerill

Cockerill has won back-to-back Premiership titles

Director of rugby Richard Cockerill said Leicester Tigers' inability to retain possession cost them in the 27-19 defeat by Northampton.

Tigers trailed 14-0 after five minutes and were unable to recover.

Cockerill told BBC Radio Leicester: "We let them get off to too good a start. You can't give them the momentum.

"We had opportunities to claw it back but you can't turn the ball over as easily as we did, you can't throw passes when it's not on."

Cockerill added: "They were good for their win and could have been far further ahead.

"We kept going but we need to be more accurate and we have to learn that lesson quickly; it's not good enough.

"It's not all doom and gloom, we scored three tries but it's not a great start and we need to react next week.

"We want to be better and it has to be better but we have to keep a measured view on it."