Anscombe fielded a youthful side for the first home friendly of the season, while still finding places for several more established names, notably the rehabilitated Jared Payne at full-back, the returning Niall O'Connor at out-half, and new recruit Nick Williams at Number Eight.

Early Leicester pressure straight from the off came to an abrupt end on four minutes thanks to a smart Michael Allen interception well inside the Ulster '22', and the same player profited from good turnover ball moments later to cut an impressive swathe down the left wing. Slick passing then saw the Ulster forwards edge to within an inch of the line, but poor judgement from a resulting scrum surrendered possession on 11 minutes.

Tigers then seized back the initiative and looked moderately threatening until a stray foot in touch put Ulster back in control. Their possession paid off on 24 minutes as, with John Afoa having just entered the fray for Declan Fitzpatrick, strong scrummaging won the hosts the penalty try in the corner. O'Connor eased into his second spell at Ravenhill with a simple conversion to make it Ulster 7 Leicester 0.

Ulster continued to dictate play as the half progressed, with many of the younger players looking especially sharp, and Leicester were the happier of the two sides to see the arrival of the half-time break.

Half-time Score Ulster 7 Leceister 0

With Ricky Lutton, Mike McComish, Neil McComb, Sean Doyle and Paddy Jackson all drafted in at the break, Ulster maintained their strong momentum in the opening minutes of the second period, although Leicester began to show their collective nous on 50 minutes and were only contained by assiduous Ulster tackling.

Tigers launched onslaught after onslaught as the hour mark passed, but still Ulster kept them at bay, until the visitors' class finally shone through on 65 minutes with a neat sidestep carrying Fijian speedster Veroniki Goneva over on the left wing for their first score, duly converted to level the game at seven points apiece.

Ulster did their best to strike straight back from the restart, but were undone by an overcooked short pass which gifted possession back to the visitors. A well-executed 5-metre lineout allowed Number Eight Thomas Waldrom to pick up and stretch over the line with five minutes remaining, and George Ford's second conversion extended the lead to Ulster 7 Leicester 14.

With three minutes left to play, and Ulster's time fast running out, Chris Cochrane raised the biggest cheer of the day by bursting through on the '22', wrongfooting the last man and sliding in between the posts for a blistering solo try.

The Jackson conversion restored parity with a minute left, and there was just enough time for Peter Nelson to make a scintillating late dash down the right wing, before being clipped into touch just metres from the line by a despairing Leicester lunge.

The match finished, then, with honours even, but proved an exceptionally positive runout for the entire squad, with Newcastle Falcons now next up in Friday's final friendly, before the RaboDirect Pro 12 kicks off in earnest against Glasgow Warriors on Friday 31 August.

Full-Time Score Ulster 14 Leicester 14