A young Leicester squad will learn plenty from defeats to Worcester Warriors, Newcastle Falcons and Sale Sharks in the northern leg held at Edgeley Park on Friday night.
Falcons enjoyed a 100 per cent record in front of 6,467 spectators to finish top of the pool and reach the finals at the Twickenham Stoop next Friday.
They will be joined by Sharks, who won two of their fixtures including a 40-12 success over Worcester in their final match to secure second place. Saracens, London Wasps, Bath Rugby and Harlequins had already booked their finals places from earlier pool rounds.
Tigers led three minutes into their opening game against Worcester when centre Ed Rolston picked up a loose ball 20 yards from the line and scampered over.
Warriors' reply came through a counterattack from the edge of their 22, which ended with Andy Short crossing on the left. The back kicked the extras to put Worcester 7-5 ahead.
Lee Robinson came agonisingly close to a second Tigers try just before the break but was unable to finish his 75-metre break and was forced into touch by Nile Dacres in trying to touch down.
Tigers retook the lead shortly after the restart when Rolston rode a tackle close to the Warriors line and dived under the posts for his second try.
But Worcester were back ahead moments later through James Freeman’s smart score on the left. And Worcester sealed their 19-12 victory with 90 seconds remaining when Mike Penn found a gap in the Tigers defence to score under the posts.
Tigers’ second game pitted them against Sale Sharks, who had lost their opening game 15-7 to Newcastle Falcons.
The hosts took the lead inside the opening minute when wing Danny Bibby danced through a couple of tackles to score. Sale added a second when Jordan Davies picked off Scott Steele’s pass close to the Tigers line. And two more tries just before the break for Bibby and Cliff gave the Sharks a 28-0 half-time lead.
Sale grabbed a fifth through Will Addison shortly after the restart and there were two more tries for the hosts before the end, including a hat-trick score for Bibby on the final whistle as the Sharks won 47-0.
Newcastle, who had won their opening two games, were Tigers’ opponents in their final fixture.
Tigers took the lead when controlled possession eventually worked an opening for Tahir El Mahdi on the right and the winger skipped through a couple of tackles to score.
Falcons, runners-up in last season’s JP Morgan Asset Management Premiership Rugby Sevens Series, replied immediately through back-rower Richard Mayhew. And moments later they went ahead through Chris Pilgrim’s try on the right. Pilgrim then finished off good work by Joel Hodgson for his second try as the Falcons led 17-7 at the break.
Alex Tait finished off a smart move to extend Newcastle’s lead early in the second half before Aaron Myers collected loose ball from the restart for the Falcons fifth try. Scrum-half Will Chudley then created and finished Newcastle’s sixth try before fellow England Student added another to give Falcons a 41-7 victory.
