Leicester head coach Marcelo Loffreda admits his side need to step up a gear when they face Wasps next Saturday.
Return of internationals should freshen up Tigers for cup clash
Leicester head coach Marcelo Loffreda admits his side need to step up a gear when they face Wasps next Saturday.
The Tigers tackle Wasps in the EDF Energy Cup semi-final and Loffreda knows they must show more than they did in their Guinness Premiership victory over Saracens.
Leicester had lost three of their four previous matches and fell 13-9 down at the break, before second-half tries from Seru Rabeni, Alesana Rabeni and Tom Varndell powered them to a 36-23 victory.
Andy Goode finished the match with 21 points and broke Jonny Wilkinson's record of 1,413 Premiership points.
He drew level with Wilkinson by kicking all of Leicester's nine first-half points and went ahead by converting Rabeni's 48th-minute try.
Leicester were 13-6 behind after 31 minutes when Dan Scarborough crossed while Leicester were down to 14 men after Jordan Crane had been yellow carded.
Important
They hit back to win and will have their internationals back for the cup clash and Loffreda said: "It was very important to beat Saracens.
"We were really frustrated after last week's game at Worcester and this result gives us some momentum and confidence to take into next week's game.
"We will have to improve, but this is a step in the right direction.
"We were a bit disappointed because we didn't score as many points as we should have done in the first half.
"We had some opportunities and lost the ball in the final pass. But we kept our concentration."
Loffreda also praised record-breaker Goode, saying: "Andy improved a lot from last week. He kept his concentration.
"I'm pleased with all the players because it was a very tough game."
Gaffney disappointed
Saracens director of rugby Alan Gaffney saw his side trim the gap to 26-23 with 12 minutes left, but admitted the game was lost in the first 20 minutes of the second half.
He said: "We were very good with ball in hand, but we didn't get ball in hand long enough.
"I think we had the ball once in the first 20 minutes of the second half. Leicester were on the front foot and they are hard to deal with when they are on the front foot.
"Leicester were very, very good and then we fought back. We got it back to 26-23 and were definitely back in it.
"But we conceded a penalty and made a horrendous error.
"I thought we deserved a point at the end. The lads showed a lot of courage and commitment."
Gaffney added: "We watched Leicester play Sale and Worcester and they played at a much higher level against us.
"They played with a lot of commitment and outmuscled us."
