An early Seru Rabeni try, coupled with two penalties and a conversion from fly-half Ian Humphreys, gave the visitors victory over bottom-of-the-table Worcester, whose points came from two Shane Drahm penalties in the first half.
"I will take the positives out of the defence and negatives from the attack," Howard admitted afterwards. "Our execution was not fantastic, we were a little bit rusty. A lot of the guys had not played since the Munster game and I think that showed. It is an interesting time of year."
With Worcester fighting for their lives at the foot of the table, Tigers presented a formidable barrier in defence, especially in the closing minutes when they were disciplined and controlled in the face of intense pressure in their own 22.
"The defence is working well, there is a good work ethic there," Howard added. "I cannot think of many line-breaks from Worcester. That part of our performance was pleasing.
"Blokes got through a lot of tackles and put in a lot of work. We dug it out and there were no stars today.
"Worcester are in an interesting situation. These games are going to tight and they are going to be gritty with sides near the bottom of the table. It is nothing to do with playing league games during the Six Nations, it is everything to do with relegation."
