Leicester Tigers director: 'We are not disgraced'

Leicester Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill has praised his players despite their heavy 47-10 defeat to Bath in the Aviva Premiership semi-final.

A hat-trick of tries from Matt Banahan, along with scores from Kyle Eastmond, Peter Stringer, George Ford and Anthony Watson, sent Bath through to a final with Saracens.

However, Cockerill insisted that he is not ashamed by the comprehensive nature of the loss.

He told BT Sport: "That was nothing to be ashamed of. I think we've worked really hard, and there's still a lot of quality players missing out of that side. But I've got nothing but praise for the players.

"It's been a tough year all round. There's no disgrace in the result today."

The Aviva Premiership final will take place at Twickenham next weekend.