After Sunday's valuable 19-13 win, Howard was delighted with his players and said: "Regardless of how many players both teams lost, Leicester against Wasps is always a very tough game. It finished one try apiece and they were missing a lot of players as well, guys like Ibanez who is a great leader for them, plus the England players. It was a test of strength, a test of depth to a certain extent, and there was not much to separate us. But we took our opportunities.
"It was a very good team performance. I am unbelievably impressed with a lot of players and the team as a whole showed fantastic spirit."
Shane Jennings scored the Tigers try at Adams Park, with fly-half Ian Humphreys providing another perfect kicking record with a conversion and four penalties. Alex King scored the Wasps try and also contributed a drop goal, with Jeremy Staunton kicking the hosts' other points.
"Richard Cockerill did a very good job in getting that pack ready and Leo Cullen led it really well," added Howard. "Leo has been fantastic in this spell. He has done an immense job and deserves a lot of credit for what has happened. We have taken points in every game during the internationals, we have won three and we had opportunities to win at Saracens too, and he deserves a lot of credit.
"A lot of guys have come in and done well. Luke Abraham stepped up really strongly today, Jordan Crane put himself on the map in terms of playing so well against an established number eight - they all did well. Ian Humphreys has really stepped up at fly-half. He had some pressure kicks out there. He stood up significantly, he has a good boot, nice distribution and good pace."
Howard had further reasons to be cheerful with Tom Croft and Henry Tuilagi included on the bench on their return from injury, while he welcomes back his international players this week ahead of the EDF Energy Cup trip to Northampton and then the European double-header against Bourgoin.
