The sides claimed one try each and then trusted their goal-kickers to punish any misdemeanours in a fiercely-contested and entertaining semi-final contest at The Recreation Ground, with Tigers coming through by a single point thanks to four penalties from George Ford.
“I am delighted for the guys,” said Cockerill on the final whistle. “It’s a squad with some younger guys and some of the older ones there to help guide them. They did a lot of really good work, it was a real team effort and they showed some quality ‘guts’ to keep them out.
“It was tight, either side could have won, but we had the desire to keep them out.
“The attitude was brilliant from everybody, I cannot speak highly enough of the squad.”
The Tigers line-up retained just four starters from the previous weekend’s Aviva Premiership win over Gloucester, but Cockerill said the whole squad stepped up and showed they were up to the test.
“It was a short turnaround and a short week to work with this team. But we came to give it a crack,” he said.
“The players wanted to show what they can do and play as hard as they can. They did that and won.
“Against one of our oldest rivals, away from home, in a cup semi-final and in front of a big crowd, that is great for the squad’s experience and their development.
“It was a test for us. All those young guys dealt with the occasion very well.
“Bath play a good brand of rugby and at times we did let them play too much and they had us under pressure. But we just rolled our sleeves up and got stuck in, and we managed to dig ourselves out of those holes. That is great experience for the younger guys and great use of the knowledge of the older players there.”
Northampton Saints and the Scarlets meet in the second semi-final on Sunday, with the final to follow at Worcester’s Sixways Stadium next Sunday.
