Leicester Tigers 25 Ulster 18
Three tries in 15 glorious first-half minutes got Leicester Tigers' Champions Cup campaign off to a winning start on home soil.
The hosts were 3-0 down when scores from Owen Williams, Graham Kitchener and Freddie Burns between the 16th and 31st minutes had a vociferous Welford Road crowd rocking.
Ulster fought back manfully after the break and earned a losing bonus point thanks to Franco van der Merwe's 68th-minute try.
But having lost major threat Manu Tuilagi to injury after just 15 minutes, along with a long list of absentees beforehand, Leicester will be delighted to have got off to a winning start.
Ulster began well and Paddy Jackson had already missed one kick at goal when he put his side 3-0 up after eight minutes.
Already though, Tigers defence was looking aggressive and well-organised and the Irish province were having to work hard for every inch of ground.
Buoyed by that, Leicester grew in confidence and put together a clinical spell of three tries in 15 minutes which completely changed the game's outlook.
Firstly, Williams – who was a man possessed throughout the opening period – barged over from close range and Freddie Burns added the extras.
On 28 minutes, Ben Youngs intercepted a pass from opposite number, Paul Marshall and fed Kitchener for a simple run-in.
Burns missed the conversion and had also snagged a penalty before the try but he revived any flagging confidence with a glorious individual try on 31 minutes.
Jinking past two or three defenders, he touched down to a huge cheer and, having relinquished kicking duties to Williams, watched as the Welshman made it 19-3 at the break.
Leicester continued their dominance in the opening exchanges of the second half and Williams extended their lead to 19 points with a penalty on 44 minutes.
Stuart McCloskey's strong run gave Ulster hope at least though as Jackson kicked a penalty over to make it 22-6 on 49 minutes.
And then, out of nowhere, the visitors showed some lovely handling down the right flank and Tommy Bowe touched down. Jackson's conversion made it 22-13 and suddenly the game was alive.
Williams made it 25-13 with 18 minutes left but any thoughts of that being the end of that were way off the mark.
Franco van der Merwe dived over a ruck to score on 67 minutes but Jamie Gibson sprinted off the line and blocked the conversion to keep the gap at seven points.
Leicester earned a penalty at the other end but chose to kick to the corner instead of going for goal and two five-metre line-outs came to nothing.
Ulster spent the last five minutes camped in the Tigers half but couldn't find a way through a determined defence and the home side made it two wins in two games to the delight of a vociferous home crowd.
