Steve Borthwick gave credit to his Leicester Tigers squad for the way they “attacked the challenge” presented by Bath at The Recreation Ground on Sunday.

Tigers led until the final moments of the Gallagher Premiership Round 16 clash against a Bath side with just two defeats in the last nine games before Ben Spencer’s last-minute conversion pushed the hosts in front at 21-20.

“We’re clearly disappointed, but there were things we did very well in the game,” said Tigers head coach Borthwick.

“We knew we were going against a very good team, and I thought we attacked that challenge really well.

“Given the position we got ourselves into, we’re disappointed with the final result."

Three George Ford penalties, in only his third Premiership appearance of the season, gave Tigers a 9-7 lead at half-time and when he added a penalty shortly after a try from Matias Moroni, Tigers led by 10 points midway through the second period before Bath fought back.

“We came up against a good side, a side who have been together for a long time, a top-four team from last year, and we pushed them,” added Borthwick.

“Unfortunately we were just short and we’ll look at how we can improve for next week.

“There is plenty for us to learn from the game. The players’ effort and endeavour were magnificent but we gave them an opportunity for field position and they executed very well.

“There were some signs of things we are working on, which is pleasing. That is enormous credit to the players. What they need to do is make sure we keep learning and taking those steps forward.

“Bath are a very good team, they have won a lot of games recently. We were able to put them under quite a lot of pressure – not enough pressure to win the game ultimately but we did a lot of good things out there. We will have a look at those things we could do better to convert it into victory and learn from those lessons.”

Tigers, who sit in eighth place in the table, host Northampton Saints in Round 17 on Saturday (3.00pm).