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Once again these teams lock horns in the pool stages of Europe for what is fast-becoming an intriguing rivalry. - 16/10/2014 16:19
Once again these teams lock horns in the pool stages of Europe for what is fast-becoming an intriguing rivalry.
Ulster have won the last three meetings between the clubs over the past three years, including 22-19 victory at Welford Road in January.
Ruan Pienaar scored all of Ulster’s points that night but the Springboks scrum-half has been ruled out of the opening two rounds of the Champions Cup with a knee injury. Ulster became the first team in seven years to win a European tie at Welford Road but the Tigers have been looked vulnerable in recent weeks in the Aviva Premiership.
Richard Cockerill has not been helped by a raft of injuries that has robbed him of the services of internationals such as Dan Cole, Tom Croft, Geoff Parling, Anthony Allen and captain Ed Slater. However British Lion Manu Tuilagi returns while Owen Williams proved he is in fine form, as a makeshift centre, kicking 17 points in last week’s much-needed victory over Harlequins.
That win saved the two-time European champions heading into this season’s campaign on the back of four successive defeats.
Flanker Julian Salvi said: “You want to go into Europe on the back of a confident win, and I think we did that with a good team performance and some decent rugby. Moving into Europe on the back of a good solid win will do us the world of good and puts in good stead to go at it this week.”
While Cockerill has been under pressure, his Ulster counterpart, Neil Doak, is still finding his feat following his appointment earlier this month. Ulster have suffered just one defeat on their six games so far in the Guinness Pro12 and beat Glasgow Warriors convincingly last week.
However their form away from Belfast has been patchy and forward Alan O’Connor has been banned for three weeks for punching.
Doak said: “We’re wanting to hit the different level of intensity that Europe brings. You build your foundation for the first hour, take stock and at the back end make sure you’re in the right areas and we’re not thinking about anything else other than the win.”
Match Facts
- Before last season’s fixtures between these sides in the Heineken Cup, the previous four games had seen an average winning margin of 30 points (two wins apiece). Ulster have won the two games since with Leicester picking up losing bonus points.
- Ulster Rugby won all six pool games last season, including two wins against Leicester Tigers.
- Ulster Rugby averaged the fewest penalties conceded in the competition last season (8.3).
- Darren Cave assisted four tries in the tournament last season, only Conor Murray (5) assisted more.
- Julian Salvi made 83 tackles last season, only three players made more but all played more games than Salvi.
Leicester Tigers left their poor Aviva Premiership form behind as they blew Ulster apart in a blistering first-half performance at Welford Road. - 18/10/2014 21:54
Leicester Tigers left their poor Aviva Premiership form behind as they blew Ulster apart in a blistering first-half performance at Welford Road.
The Tigers roared from the start and once they had stemmed an early storm, which included a Paddy Wallace penalty, they raced into a 19-3 interval lead.
Centre Owen Williams started the first-half rout with a try at the posts which Freddie Burns managed to convert. Then scrum-half Ben Youngs nipped in to intercept a pass from his opposite number Paul Marshall on the blindside of a ruck on the Ulster 22 and his inside pass allowed Graham Kitchener to cross.
The third try was added by Burns and there could have been a fourth for Youngs had the TMO not spotted half a foot in touch in the build-up.
The only thing that went wrong for the Tigers in the first half was their goal-kicking, although once Williams took over from Burns that situation certainly improved. The Welshman kicked a first-half conversion and then added a penalty early in the second-half to stretch the lead to 22-3.
Ulster responded with a second penalty from Wallace, but that still left them with a mountain to climb in the final quarter. But they kept on climbing and two super tries brought them back into bonus point territory.
Tommy Bowe ran in the first after some brilliant inter-play with Jared Payne down the right wing and then South African lock Franco van der Merwe dived over the top of a maul on the home line to bag a second.
Wallace converted Bowe’s fine try, which allowed him to join the European Elite try scorers with 25 in the top tier, but then saw Jamie Gibson charge down his second attempt to provide more frustration for the Ulster faithful. Ulster kept on going, but they couldn’t quite bridge the gap and had to be content with one point instead of more.
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