Tigers taught lessons in Sale loss - Cheika

Michael Cheika was appointed Leicester Tigers head coach in the summer

Boss Michael Cheika says Sale Sharks taught his Leicester Tigers players an important lesson as they were overpowered in Sunday's Premiership defeat.

A Nicky Smith try and two Handre Pollard penalties had Tigers ahead up until the half-hour mark, but they were eventually well beaten by the hosts 39-25 in their first league game for five weeks.

Tigers had been second in the table going into the break - which accommodated both the autumn international series and the start of the Premiership Rugby Cup - but have slipped to third.

"There are no excuses," Cheika told BBC Radio Leicester.

"What has got us to where we were at the end of the first block [of fixtures] is not what is going to get us to where we need to be at the end of the second block."

Former Australia and Argentina head coach Cheika said Tigers were "good in patches" against Sale, but admits a number of "fundamentals" were lacking in their performance.

The game marked the start of two months of uninterrupted league and European Champions Cup action for the East Midlands club before another month-long break for the Six Nations in February.

Cheika, who won Europe's biggest club honour during his time at Leinster's helm, says the loss at the Salford Community Stadium could prove to be "a positive thing".

"It's a good lesson for us to go, OK, it's time to front up to get to a better level, especially with the physicality of the game," he continued.