Leicester Tigers head coach Richard Cockerill revealed that a training session from hell paved the way for his side's 35-19 victory over London Irish on Saturday.

The Guinness Premiership champions bounced back from last weekend's hugely disappointing defeat at Northampton with a stunning bonus-point win over Irish.

Tigers performed with high levels of intensity throughout the game and the win keeps them on top of the table.

Cockerill said it was the perfect response and paid credit to his players for turning things around after their 19-3 defeat at Franklin's Gardens.

"We sat down and watched the video of that game and people had fingers pointed at them and were told what needed to be done," said Cockerill.

"Then the forwards went out for a 40-minute training session in the week and came back in hour and 45 minutes later. Everybody kept saying, 'Are they still out there'?

"We had a few issues in the pack last week and we have worked really hard on them.

"The attitude of the players has been fantastic. It's not just the players' responsibility, it's mine too and the person who needs to work the most after a performance like that (Northampton) is me.

"It's not about them getting the blame. It's all of us sitting down to discuss what we want to do about it, and you saw the response. That's credit to them."

Cockerill watched in delight as his side forged into a 25-3 lead with their best rugby of the season with tries from Alesana Tuilagi, Scott Hamilton and Martin Castrogiovanni.

Irish got back into the game and a Steffon Armitage try helped to pull the gap back to 28-19 at one stage.

However, George Chuter's first try in 95 games secured a bonus-point victory.

"The performance in the first half was fantastic – our best of the season and just the response I wanted to see," said Cockerill.

"Scoring four tries against a good side like Irish, you can't ask for more than that.

"It was good to bounce back and five points was just what we needed. Hamilton's try was the best we have scored all season."