Tigers sealed second place in the table with a 28-3 home win over Bath and will now host defending champions Saracens in the semi-final at Welford Road next Saturday (5.30pm).
Anthony Allen and Horacio Agulla claimed tries against Bath, with Tigers also being awarded a penalty try at a close-range scrum.
Director of rugby Cockerill said: “We’ve been on a very good run – but we needed it because we had a poor start to the season in terms of results.
“We had the toughest run-on of anybody but the lads have done really well, particularly with those wins at Saints and Quins then the win here over Bath. We needed to do that to get where we are.
“That whole run is a credit to the players and their hard work.”
Tigers had set a Premiership record with six successive bonus-point wins before Saturday’s match and never looked back against Bath once Allen scored in the early stages of the second half.
“It wasn’t our greatest game but we’ll take the win and the home semi-final that goes with it,” added Cockerill.
“At half-time we were a bit frustrated, we were trying to force things at times and making it hard for ourselves with some poor decisions. But we didn’t panic, we just kept playing and we deserved the win in the end. Hopefully we’re saving our biggest performances for when it really matters.”
George Skivington and Ben Youngs were late withdrawals from the Tigers team, but Cockerill was happy with the form of their replacements Calum Green and Sam Harrison.
“Skivs had a bit of a stiff back and I knew Calum would do a good job,” he said. “I thought he did a great job coming in and playing against some experienced guys in the Bath second row. And Sam Harrison has had a good season and does not look out of place in that company.”
