Leicester Tigers forward Lewis Moody has one last mission before he calls time on a trophy-laden career at Welford Road.

And while Moody would dearly love to end his time as a Tiger with a Premiership final victory against Saracens on Saturday, the Bath-bound England star insists there is no room for sentiment.

Leicester legends Neil Back and Martin Johnson both experienced defeat in their final game for the Tigers - against Wasps in 2005 - and Moody insists his farewell is "irrelevant".

"Johnno and Backy's last game was a game we lost to Wasps," Moody told BBC East Midlands Today. "It doesn't matter how great you are as players and teams, you have to go out and do it.

"You, as players, want to send them out on the right note but unless you do what's right on the pitch and in training then it's just not going to happen because it's their last game. It's irrelevant.

"I don't expect anyone to be playing for any reason other than they want to go out and win this game. That's exactly the way it should be."

Saturday's Twickenham appearance will be Leicester's sixth successive Premiership final, with two wins and two defeats since that loss to Wasps in 2005.

"We've had 14 very successful years in my time here and I've loved every minute of it," said Moody.

"I've been part of some incredible teams and played with some fantastic players. It's been wonderful to be a small part of the success that we've had over the years."

Moody, 31, puts that success down to hard graft.

"It's the work ethic that starts at the very bottom," he explained.

"When you come through the academy and youth team, it breeds and filters through from the coaches to backroom staff to the players. Everyone has the same drive to be successful - that's what it's about.

It's been wonderful to be a small part of the success that we've had over the years Lewis Moody

"Also having an incredible strength in depth year on year. It's not always the high-paid players and the big guns that come through and do the job, it's some of the young guys, like Ben Youngs this year or Geordan Murphy when he came through.

"It's when the internationals are away those guys find their footing, make the most of the opportunities they are given and hopefully go on and become the next internationals."

As for highlights, the trophies speak for themselves but Moody insists he takes more pleasure from victories when the team are up against it.

"There are two games that stick in my mind and they are not actually the finals," he said. "One was against Leinster in the quarter-final of the Heineken Cup in 20O4.

"They were fancied and were favourites to win the Heineken Cup that year. We went there to their home ground and gave them a thumping. It was fantastic sitting in the changing rooms afterwards. I think it was one of Johnno's last few games.

"Then we went to play Munster in the Heineken Cup (in 2007). They had an unbelievable record, they had never lost a home game in the Heineken Cup in their history, it was their last game there before the developments and we went there as massive underdogs and got a result.

"It's those games when you are not expected to win with a team that just goes all out to come away with a victory that really stick in your mind as a player.

"Obviously, all the success and finals and triumphs you have as a result of those wins will always be there, but those two games really stick with me."

Saturday's farewell will be a special occasion in front of an 80,000-plus sell-out crowd but Moody has his own way of dealing with the hype and expectation.

"I always like to think it's just another game, just another pitch," he said. "You look at it that way so you don't put too much stress and pressure on yourself. We have been there enough times with this club to know what's it's all about."

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