Leicester Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill has declared himself delighted at his side's 12-9 win over Exeter Chiefs this afternoon.

Toby Flood kicked all 12 points as one of eight returning international players for the Tigers, who resumed club duty following an eight-week absence for the Six Nations.

Many of those players were involved in England's defeat to Wales, which saw them fail to clinch the Grand Slam and the title, but Cockerill believes that a return to club rugby is just what they needed.

"A 12-all draw would probably have been a fair result to be fair to Exeter - but this is a tough place to come. We worked very hard and we had to integrate players back into the side after international duty. From my own experience, when you have a poor experience with the national side you want to come back to your club and get straight back into it. That is probably what you need rather than having the rest," said Cockerill.

"The key thing here is that your bread and butter is at Leicester because whatever happens on Test duty - hopefully it's good things - at some point that will end and you go back to your club. The importance from our point of view is Leicester and all the Test boys wanted to play in this game. It's always going to be hard without eight of your players which is the fulcrum of your side.

"I'm delighted with this win, the attitude was great. We could have done things better at times but that is life and you take the points. We had a bit of luck but we earned that probably against a good side. We picked as good a side as we could put out because we have respect for Exeter and how good they are on their own ground."

The result lifts Leicester up to second in the Aviva Premiership table, one point behind leaders Saracens.