Ulster win rings a bell for Jonny

Leicester 19 Ulster 22

The then Ireland centre had single-handedly stifled a French outfit who had plans on running Ulster ragged. Bell suffocated Colomiers that day. Both Bell and Humphreys were sitting together in the Welford Road stands on Saturday. Undoubtedly, following a classical Heineken Cup tie, Bell, now in charge of Ulster’s defensive systems, will relish having seen his side stifle the Tigers with a hugely effective tackling strategy.

You can say what you like about Leicester in that some key men were absent, but ultimately it came down to the fact Ulster simply choked the life out of them. Yes, you can say Ruan Pienaar grabbed all their points with an exceptional man-of-the-match performance. But, for a half-back to perform at such an imperious level, he needs a barricade in front of him. Pienaar had just that with a pack who finally found their mojo at the right time when they went 10 points behind in the second-half, and skipper Johann Muller finally found the inspiration to drag every last big of juice out of them.