Hipkiss and Vesty scored in the first half as Tigers made large periods of possession and territory pay.

Bath struck back with tries by Michael Claassens and Stuart Hooper as they came more into the game in the second half.

But Moody’s score twelve minutes from time when he latched onto Johne Murphy’s through kick made the result safe.

Tigers were forced into a late change to the team when Aaron Mauger was ruled out through injury. Dan Hipkiss moved to 12 with Ayoola Erinle coming in at inside centre.

England international Toby Flood was also ruled out after suffering an Achilles injury in the Heineken Cup semi-final. Sam Vesty took his place at fly-half.

Tigers enjoyed some early possession and Nick Abendanon had to be alert to deal with Scott Hamilton’s grubber kick, which looked to have wrong-footed the Bath full-back with the bounce.

The home side thought they had taken the lead in the fourth minute when captain Geordan Murphy broke the line and offloaded to Marcos Ayerza, but referee Dave Pearson ruled the pass had gone forward before the Argentina international touched down.

Vesty then launched a delightful cross-kick that Hamilton kicked on first time before being tackled by Abendanon without collecting the ball. However, Dupuy was off target with the resulting penalty.

Tigers were enjoying large amounts of possession and made it pay in the 17th minute with the first try of the game. Jordan Crane sucked defenders in with a drive deep into the Bath 22 before Hipkiss forced his way through a couple of tackles in the next phase to score behind the posts. Dupuy completed the seven-point score.

Johne Murphy thought he had grabbed a second two minutes later when he showed footballing skills down the right wing but Shontayne Hape won the foot race and touched down just ahead of him in his in-goal area.

Tigers then won a scrum against the head to set up another good attacking chance in the Bath 22 but Hipkiss knocked on in the tackle.

The game was 30 minutes old when Bath had their first venture into the Tigers 22 with an attacking line-out. Strong defence from Hipkiss and Geordan Murphy stopped Alex Crockett as Bath began to build momentum and the centre was penalised for holding on.

Instead, Tigers continued to press and Hipkiss went close to scoring his second try when he picked a gap and was driven on by Ben Woods. However, he was brought down just short of the line. The ball was kept alive and spun left where Ben Kay broke through before being felled 5m out.

Tigers did get their second try with three minutes of the half remaining and it was the forwards who laid the platform by forcing Bath off their own scrum. When it was reset, Dupuy fed Vesty who stepped off his left foot and under the posts to score. Dupuy’s conversion gave Tigers a 14-0 lead at half-time.

Bath had their first chance to put points on the board immediately after the restart when Hamilton was penalised for not rolling away, but fly-half Ryan Davis pushed a difficult kick from the left touchline wide to the right.

But Bath did get on the scoresheet five minutes into the second half with their first try of the game. They put together a series of phases to force Tigers back onto their line before scrum-half Michael Claassens threw a dummy to open the gap for himself to score. Davis’s conversion was off target to leave Tigers 14-5 ahead.

Dupuy then punished Bath for coming in at the side of the breakdown with a penalty from the left to extend the Tigers’ lead to 17-5.

Bath were more in the game in the second half and scored their second try after 57 minutes. The visitors manufactured an overlap on the right that was finished in the corner by Stuart Hooper. Davis was again off target with the kick as Tigers led 17-10.

Tigers hit back with their first period of sustained possession of the second half. They put together 13 phases before the ball was moved to Tom Croft on the right wing but Claassens got back to knock the ball out of his hands as he stretched for the corner.

Tigers did get their third try with 12 minutes remaining. Vesty and Geordan Murphy combined to put Johne Murphy away down the left and his kick ahead was collected by replacement Lewis Moody, who managed to touch down despite the efforts of Joe Maddock to hold him up. Referee Pearson went to the television match official before awarding the score. Dupuy added the extras to put Tigers 24-10 in front.

Vesty was off target with a penalty and a drop goal attempt with the last kick of the game as Tigers attacked to the final whistle.