Meyer praises ailing Tigers

Leicester boss Heyneke Meyer admitted his frustration at failing to come away with a bonus point against Newcastle.

Sickness in the camp may have cost Leicester a bonus point

Leicester boss Heyneke Meyer admitted his frustration at failing to come away with a bonus point against Newcastle. Tries from Geordan Murphy and Aaron Mauger along with ten points from the boot of Toby Flood were enough to see off the Falcons 20-3. But Meyer said: "I don't want to make excuses but a lot of the guys are sick. A lot of them have been coming off and coughing up sick so it has been a really difficult day for the guys. "At the end of the day we got four points out of the game so it is job well done. "Toby Flood is playing good rugby at the moment. He did well for England and he did really well today in what was a difficult game. "There was definite frustration we did not score more tries today. "We had enough chances to score and finish today and probably should have scored two more tries but we didn't." For his part, Newcastle boss Steve Bates was proud of his side's effort bearing in mind their own injury crisis. He said: "Some of the guys have been suffering a bit today. We were really down to the bare bones - we have got a really long injury list. "It was a good performance in many aspects but we just did not look after the ball well enough in the first half. "We made a few more tackles than they did today but we are in and rebuilding process here at the moment. "Coming here and defending like we did at Welford Road is a real credit to lads' commitment and determination. "The way they fought was outstanding. We did really well in the opening 60 but their second try just came at the wrong time."