Toby Flood has leapt to the defence of his Leicester Tigers and England half-back partner Ben Youngs in the wake of criticism about his second half decision to take a quick tap penalty and shun three points in the defeat against Toulouse.
The Tigers were trailing 14-9 after 51 minutes when Youngs went for the try that would have levelled the scores. His bold move failed and, two minutes later, Luke McAlister struck another penalty when the Tigers gave away a penalty of their own.
It was a snap decision that led to Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill questioning the scrum half's decision and ultimately branding his team as "naïve at times."
But Flood, who kicked all the Tigers points with three penalties, said: "You never want to take that kind of action away from Ben because that's the aspect he brings to the game.
"It became a big arm-wrestle and the conditions didn't help. The pressure came on when they went nine points ahead.
"In the first 40-50 minutes we felt they were a bit rattled. But they are all big men who all carry well and they squeeze and pressurise you."
The Tigers will have to lick their wounds before the Ospreys arrive at Welford Road this week to try to extend their lead at the top of Pool 2 following their perfect five point start at home to Benetton Treviso.
The two teams have played each other regularly in Europe in recent years and the Ospreys took two points from their last visit with a draw. Having failed to take any points from their trip to Toulouse, Leicester can't afford a repeat performance in Round 2.
"We need to learn how to leave games with something and we have to stop giving the ball away cheaply," said Flood.
"It is as difficult as it gets going to Toulouse, but at least they didn't get a bonus point. That would have made it much harder for us."
