Defining moment for former kings

Welford Road will be an emotional maelstrom this afternoon. Leicester must brace themselves for the unthinkable: no European rugby next season.Languishing near the bottom of the English Premiership, the only route back into this competition next season is to win it - a risible scenario given their recent form.

No one in the Tiger's camp is laughing at present, with injuries and rank performances chipping away at morale. The bare minimum the home side must extract from today's game is a victory. Nothing else will suffice.

A 16,000 sell-out crowd will roar on the Tigers, a highly-charged occasion exacerbated by the expectation England captain Martin Johnson will announce his international retirement. Johnson will concentrate on restoring Leicester to its pre-eminence.

It is a gesture to which the Leicester players would dearly love to reciprocate with a win over Ulster. Last week's 33-0 thrashing at Ravenhill will rankle.

The home side are handicapped, though, by a debilitating injury list. The treatment table is being leased as a timeshare option. Geordan Murphy (leg), James Buckland (leg), Peter Cook (back), Lewis Moody (foot), Martin Corry (hamstring), Julian White (knee), Freddie Tuilagi (knee), Tom Tierney (head), Adam Balding (stomach), Daryl Gibson (hamstring), Ollie Smith (head) and Ross Broadfoot (shoulder) form a long queue.

The Tigers make seven changes, three of which are positional, for today's clash. Having lost both starting centres, Ollie Smith and Darryl Gibson, to injury in the first 10 minutes against Ulster last week in Belfast, Leon Lloyd shifts from wing to centre where he is partnered by South African Glenn Gelderbloom.

Sam Vesty comes in at full back, with Jaco van der Westhuyzen switching to outhalf, Austin Healy swaps the scrumhalf berth for a role on the left wing, and completing the musical chairs in the back line is Harry Ellis. He has been handed the number nine jersey on his return from suspension.

The one alteration to the pack is predictable. Johnson starts after warming the pine for 50 minutes at Ravenhill. The official explanation for last week was that Johnson had a heavy cold and a back injury. It rings a little hollow. Leicester's under-fire director of rugby, Dean Richards, has circled the wagons.

"In times of crisis things don't go your way, but you can't block it, you have to analyse it and learn from it. We've done that now, and I'm not going to apportion blame to any particular area. It was an all-round poor performance.

"The season is not over, even though silverware might elude us. We're still in with a shout, and as long as we have 22 players to put out on to the pitch every week, I don't think people should write us off.

"If we win our next three games we still have every chance of going through. Ulster still have to go to Stade Français, so it's very much open."

Richards's defiance may well equate to whistling in the graveyard, but there's probably substance to his rhetoric. For Ulster, there is a momentous opportunity to take a giant psychological step to becoming a better team.

Leicester have never been as vulnerable. The Irish province need to repeat the fundamentals of last week: aggression in the tackle, accuracy at set-piece time (improving the protection of the ball in the scrums) and perhaps, most importantly, a genuine belief that they can win.

LEICESTER: S Vesty; N Baxter, L Lloyd, G Gelderbloom, A Healey; J van der Westhuyzen, H Ellis; G Rowntree, D West, D Morris; M Johnson, B Kay; W Johnson, H Tuilagi, N Back (capt). Replacements: J Richards, R Nebbett, L Deacon, W Skinner, L Myring, R Pez, S Booth.

ULSTER: P Wallace; J Topping, S Stewart, P Steinmetz, T Howe; D Humphreys, N Doak; R Kempson, M Sexton, S Best; M Mustchin, R Frost; A Ward (capt), R Wilson, N Best. Replacements: P Shields, R Moore, M McCullough, W Brosnihan, K Campbell, A Larkin, B Cunningham.

Referee: N Williams (Wales).

Previous meetings (HC 2003-2004): Ulster 33 Leicester 0.

Formguide: Leicester - lost to Stade Francais (a) 26-15; beat Gwent Dragons (h) 34-3; lost to Ulster (a) 33-0. Ulster - lost to Gwent Dragons (a) 24-15; beat Stade Francais (h) 22-20; beat Leicester (h) 33-0.

Leading points scorers: Leicester - Ramiro Pez 24. Ulster - David Humphreys 45.

Leading try scorers: Leicester - Ollie Smith 2. Ulster - Andy Ward 2.

Forecast: Ulster to win.