Tigers secured their play-off place with a 40-26 victory over London Wasps at Welford Road on Saturday and head coach Howard said: "We are reasonably happy with the performance. It was just nice to get the win and we finish on the same points as Gloucester, so over the 22 rounds we are pretty happy with that.
"I thought the first 60 minutes we played pretty well, the tackling was good and the intensity was good. We had to make a few changes in the second half and take a few guys off. The guys have played a lot of rugby recently so there are a few bumps and bruises. A lot of them have had big games, including the Six Nations, for the last 10 or 12 weeks and they keep turning up and keep playing well."
Howard always said the first target for the Premiership season was to ensure a top-four spot and then take that form into the play-offs, and now he is looking forward to a third meeting of the season with Bristol, after one win each in the regular fixtures.
"Bristol have the best defensive record in the Premiership and they beat us down there just last week so we know it is another tough game," he said.
Wasps director of rugby Ian McGeechan blamed the 10-minute period just after half-time on Saturday for the defeat that saw the Londoners miss out on a play-off spot.
"We had a bad spell after half-time," said McGeechan. "We missed a kick-off, got ourselves into a corner and could not get out. You then lose a prop and that is exactly what you do not want to be doing against Leicester."
