Cockerill pleased to silence doubters

Richard Cockerill has taken great pleasure in proving the doubters wrong on the way to an eighth successive Premiership final.

A 24-15 play-off win over Saracens on Saturday booked Leicester's place in the Twickenham showpiece against Harlequins, who saw off the challenge of Northampton earlier in the day. Teenage fly-half George Ford raised his profile with an impressive display, kicking 14 points and looking dangerous with ball in hand. Alesana Tuilagi and Steve Mafi scored a try in either half to end Saracens' reign as champions. "Obviously there is still a game to go and win but I'm really pleased we've proved a lot of people wrong that were taking pleasure in us struggling at the start of the year," Tigers director of rugby Cockerill said. The former England hooker was also full of praise for the inexperienced Ford. "Fordy, to play how he did on a big occasion was really good. I'm just delighted for the players because we've had a lot of stuff thrown at us," Cockerill added.