Both Cave and Craig Gilroy, scorer of the fourth try, put forward a weighty argument for selection in the Ireland starting XV on the cusp of the Six Nations, but in truth the entire Ulster team can be proud of their performance, with some exemplary defending keeping out the Tigers – who still had an outside chance of progressing to the quarter-finals had they secured a bonus-point victory themselves.
Eight changes to the lineup which started in Toulon included the return of Iain Henderson to the back row, the Ireland international making his first appearance of the season after picking up a hip injury in pre-season.
Tommy Bowe and Gilroy returned to the wings after sitting out last week’s round five match, while Luke Marshall came in at centre and Ian Humpreys at out-half following the injuries sustained by Stuart Olding and Paddy Jackson. Full-back Jared Payne, centre Cave and scrum-half Ruan Pienaar completed the back line.
An all-new front row saw Callum Black and Wiehahn Herbst pack down either side of captain Rory Best, while the Alan O’Connor – Franco van der Merwe partnership continued in the second row, Roger Wilson wore Number Eight , and Mike McComish retained his place at openside after an impressive two-try display in southern France.
Ulster could have been on the scoresheet as early as the first minute when Bowe only narrowly failed to hold on to the ball as he charged down a hurried clearance on the ‘22’, but a surrendered lineout deep in their own half eight minutes later put the hosts under considerable pressure until McComish was able to hack away a loose ball.
Moments later, as Ulster pressed again, a clever dink over the line from Humphreys just eluded Marshall and dropped out of play, and as the game continued along its end-to-end flow, Leicester failed to capitalise on a 15-metre lineout before Cave opened the scoring on the 20-minute mark.
Persistence was key in the try, with over a dozen phases rolled out – and a few close calls as several forwards stretched for the line off the back of a rolling maul – before the centre picked up on the right wing 10 metres from home and forced his way over, Humphreys’ conversion attempt spinning well wide.
Leicester responded brightly, piecing together a good 10 minutes’ worth of pressure which Ulster defended manfully with a series of bruising tackles – the pick of the bunch a bone-cruncher by Marshall on Logovii Mulipola which stopped the prop, a full five stones heavier than the Ulster centre, dead in his tracks. Then, as half-time loomed, sheer determination from Ulster wrenched possession back from the Tigers on the verge on their ‘22’, and a delightfully swivelled run from Humphreys set Cave free for his second of the night, Pienaar adding the extras.
Half time score: Ulster 12 Leicester Tigers 0
Humphreys was again the provider for Cave’s hat-trick try on 43 minutes, his sleight of hand once more creating the space for the centre to run on to, although Cave still had plenty to do as he drove his way in between two Leicester tacklers to hit the line.
Pienaar converted and, with Vereniki Goneva soon sinbinned for a high tackle on Payne, Ulster wasted no time in capitalising on their numerical advantage, Gilroy touching down on 50 minutes by the left corner flag after a pinpoint crossfield pass from Pienaar to Payne.
After another Pienaar conversion, hopes of an Ulster shut-out evaporated as winger Adam Thompstone eluded his tackler and grounded in the corner, Freddie Burns topping up the tally to seven. A rejuvenated Leicester camped in the Ulster half from the restart, and as the hosts absorbed attack after attack, Black was sent to the bin for infringing at the scrum.
With Ulster short-handed, a Tigers try looked inevitable, but dogged defending kept the Premiership side at bay for the entirety of Black’s exile – even when he was joined in the bin by fellow prop Herbst on 70 minutes.
Nevertheless, buoyant Ulster continued to defend with aplomb, even closing out the game on the attack in the search of a fifth try. The result consigns the Tigers to a disappointing exit from this year’s competition at the pool stage, with Toulon the only qualifiers from the group on 22 points, Leicester in second place on 13, Ulster third on 12, and Scarlets bottom with eight.
Ulster now take a two-week break before the Guinness Pro12 resumes on Friday 13 February with Benetton Treviso the visitors to the Kingspan Stadium.
Full time score: Ulster 26 Leicester Tigers 7
Ulster (15-9): J Payne; T Bowe, D Cave, L Marshall, C Gilroy; I Humphreys, R Pienaar; (1-8) C Black, R Best (c), W Herbst, A O’Connor, F van der Merwe, I Henderson, M McComish, R Wilson
Replacements (16-23): R Herring, A Warwick, B Ross, L Stevenson, C Ross, N McComb, P Marshall, M Allen
Leicester Tigers (15-9): M Tait; A Thompstone, V Goneva, S Bai, M Benjamin; F Burns, B Youngs (c); (1-8) M Ayerza, T Youngs, L Mulipola, G Kithchener, G Parling, T Croft, J Salvi, J Crane;
Replacements (16-23): L Ghiraldini, M Rizzo, F Balmain, S de Chaves, R Barbieri, S Harrison, O Williams, N Morris