All or nothing for Tigers now

"The winner of our group has got to go 5 and 1 to reach the knock-out stages. We have had our one loss - now we've got to win all our remaining games," he said.

"We aren't going to fold. We know exactly what we have to do."

But for a 79th minute penalty goal from Ronan O'Gara from just inside his own half, the Tigers would have clung on for a famous victory. As it was, O'Gara hit the mark to give the champions a 21-19 opening day win and end Leicester's proud unbeaten run that dated back to their Heineken Cup defeat by Biarritz Olympique in January, 2005.

"We felt we had them up front, but it's all about having the basics in order to make the pressure tell," said Corry. We had two chances to score in the first-half and we didn't take either of them.

"Their scores came easily in the first half, whereas we had to work much harder for our points. We did catch them up, and we had the momentum going in the last 10 minutes, but we just couldn't hold out."

Tigers head coach Pat Howard says his team must now "dust themselves off" before going to Cardiff at the weekend to meet the Blues at the Millennium Stadium.

"Munster were in exactly our position last season after they lost at Sale. We have got to deal with it, dust ourselves off and move on to Cardiff," said Howard.

Leicester goalkicker Andy Goode was full of admiration for Ronan O'Gara for the way he took that final penalty to win the game for his side. With the rain lashing down throughout the second half the pitch was treacherous and O'Gara had missed from closer range earlier in the half.

"That kick shows exactly why Ronan is one of the best kickers in the northern hemisphere. He would have struggled to kick it from where the original penalty was given, but when he got the extra 10 metres he would have fancied his chances," said Goode.

"The weather conditions made it very soggy underfoot, but with an opportunity like that you know he's going to kick at least 90% of them. I was willing him to miss, but deep down I thought he would kick it.

"He backed himself and it was a great kick."