Coach Richard Cockerill was satisfied with the exercise as six summer signings made an appearance in the 57-28 victory against their National League One hosts at Camborne Recreation Ground.
Both sides made the most of the opportunity to see their players in action, with most of Tigers' players gaining 40 minutes' action.
Owen Finegan was given the honour of leading out Tigers for the first action of the summer, with Louis Deacon taking over as captain in second half.
Benjamin Kayser, Richard Blaze, Boris Stankovich, Mefin Davies and Marco Wentzel joined Finegan in making their first appearance for the club.
Pirates provided a warm welcome on a sunny afternoon with a large crowd including a sizeable contingent of Tigers supporters who had made the long trek to the South-West.
Scrum-half Ben Youngs got the scoreboard moving first, wriggling over the tryline in the third minute of the game. Paul Burke's conversion put Tigers 7-0 ahead.
But Pirates were determined that their visitors would not have it all their own way and fly-half Gareth Steenson put in a pefect crossfield kick into the arms of onrushing wing Rhodri McAtee to score. Steenson converted to level the scores after 12 minutes.
When Youngs was felled just short of the line after another dart, his offload found Vavae Tuilagi who ran in his first try in the senior ranks. Burke added the conversion to put Tigers ahead again, and the opening period ended with another try for each side.
First, second row Wentzel crowned his debut with a dive in on the right after a positive run by Johne Murphy from full-back and a final pass from hooker Davies. Burke was again on target from the right touchline to stretch the lead, but Pirates bounced straight back as Steenson's grubber kick was touched down by Simon Whatling under the posts. Steenson's conversion made it 14-21 at half-time.
With two new-look line-ups taking the field for the start of the second period, Kayser got on the end of a powerful drive to touch down over the hosts' line and this time Andy Goode supplied the extras.
Just as in the first half, though, the Cornishmen were not put off their own game and skipper Steve Winn burst through after the ball had been fumbled in the Tigers backline. Steenson's conversion narrowed the gap to seven points at 21-28.
After a promising break by full-back Mitch Culpin had got Tigers going forwards again, Youngs picked up from the base of a close-range scrum and put Ollie Smith in for Tigers' fifth try of the afternoon. Goode converted, but the hosts again fought back with a score from centre Brian Tuohy after a period of good possession.
But that was to be the final time they would break the Tigers line, as the Guinness Premiership champions made good use of possession and territory in the final quarter of the game. Tom Varndell ran in two long-range scores from the left wing, Jordan Crane dived over from a ruck and Ollie Dodge supplied the finishing touch to another sharp break to give Tigers nine tries and an opening victory of the summer.
The build-up to the new season continues with the shorter trip to Bedford, also of National League One, on Saturday, August 11 (3pm).
Pirates: Winnan, McAtee, Devlin, Whatling, Tuohy, Steenson, Bolt; Paver, Elloway, Deal, Beardshaw, Cumming, Betty, Motusaga, Cowley. Replacements: Parsons, Winn, Moore, Cook, Dawidiuk, Heard, Hobson, Gesinde, Williamson.
Tigers: J Murphy, Hurrell, M Smith, Cornwell, V Tuilagi, Burke, B Youngs; Stankovich, Davies, Young, Gillanders, Wentzel, Croft, Abraham, Finegan.
Replacements: Culpin, Dodge, O Smith, T Youngs, Varndell, Goode, F Murphy; Moreno, Kayser, White, Blaze, L Deacon, Pienaar, Herring, Crane.
