One of his most famous successes was beating fierce East Midlands derby foes Northampton Saints in the 2013 Premiership final.

A year later, Saints avenged that loss in the semi-finals on the way to winning the crown themselves.

"The intensity of those games, the rivalry between us and Saints was hot, it was hard, it was tough and it was a hatred in the sporting sense," Cockerill said.

"When we played that final, the last time I said to the boys in the changing room was 'there are some games you can't lose and today's game we cannot lose because it's Saints. Don't worry about the Premiership, it's Northampton'.

"I watched Leicester against Northampton a couple of weeks ago and it was a decent game, but it doesn't have the same bite that we used to have when I first joined the club in the '90s to those games when Manu [Tuilagi] was dealing with [Chris] Ashton or Alesana [Tuilagi] was maiming people for fun.

"Im not sure I get the same feeling now. And it's not just Leicester against Saints but Bath versus Gloucester or whatever it might be."

Cockerill does, however, acknowledge that the club game has developed in different ways.

"It's not the same but it is entertainment and a good game of rugby," he said.

"Everyone wants it to be an 80-point game between two teams, but the real anticipation for kick-off and who is going to get stuck into who first, the edginess and violence it had in a good way, I don't think is there any more.

"Maybe I'm just old and the game has moved on, but in those games at Welford Road against big teams, there was a real atmosphere.

"I don't think the game has the same bite any more."