Leicester Tigers 25 Ulster Rugby 18

Leicester Tigers held off a late surge from Ulster Rugby to ensure a 25-18 Heineken Champions Cup Pool 3 win to kick off their campaign.

The Gallagher Premiership side led 22-3 early in the second period thanks to first half tries from Owen Williams, Graham Kitchener and Freddie Burns – Burns and Williams adding two and eight points respectively in the contest.

Ulster produced a scintillating comeback with wing Tommy Bowe and Franco van der Merwe crossing the whitewash as the Irish province mounted an unlikely assault on the Leicester lead.

Centre Owen Williams opened the hosts account for the afternoon with a try under the posts – converted by Burns.

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 ball allowed Graham Kitchener to cross the whitewash.

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.

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 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 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.

You can watch Leicester Tigers v Ulster Rugby in the European Rugby Challenge Cup semi-finals, live on BT Sport and beIN SPORTS from 20:00 (UK and Irish time) on Friday 30 April.

Leicester Tigers and Ulster Rugby renew rivalries on Friday evening when they face-off in the European Rugby Challenge Cup semi-finals. We take a look back at a 2014/15 pool stage meeting between the two sides in a thrilling encounter at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.