Settle down now — the weekend starts here. It’s Ulster v Leicester in the Heineken Cup and we’ll have live minute-by-minute updates of all the action from Ravenhill. Sure where else would you want to be?

Kick-off is in 20 minutes, so now would be a perfect time to stick the pizza in the oven and stick the kettle on. Go on, I’ll wait.

Here’s how they’ll line out in Ravenhill this evening. Paddy Wallace makes his long-awaited return from a hand injury. His inclusion in midfield is the only change made to Ulster side which beat Edinburgh comfortably last weekend.

Ulster: S Terblanche; A Trimble, D Cave, P Wallace, C Gilroy; I Humphreys, R Pienaar; T Court, R Best, J Afoa, J Muller (c), D Tuohy, S Ferris, C Henry, P Wannenburg. Replacements: N Brady, C Black, A Macklin, L Stevenson, W Faloon, P Marshall, I Whitten, A D’Arcy.

Leicester Tigers: G Murphy (c); H Agulla, M Smith, A Allen, A Tuilagi; B Twelvetrees, B Youngs; M Ayerza, R Hawkins, M Castrogiovanni, S Mafi, G Parling, T Croft, J Salvi, T Waldrom. Replacements: G Chuter, B Stankovich, D Cole, E Slater, B Woods, S Harrison, J Staunton, S Hamilton.

The “sold out” signs have been in the windows around Ravenhill all week, which is no surprise considering how much is at stake tonight.

Ulster currently sit on top of Pool 4, two points ahead of the Tigers, and a win tonight would be a massive step towards the knockout stages. For Leicester, defeat tonight and they’re as good as out.

If my maths are correct, we should be in for a cracker.

One area that might just tilt tonight’s game is the battle of the front rows. The visitors have two world-class pops in Ayerza and Castrogiovanni, while Hawkins is preferred to Chuter at hooker. How will Court, Best and Afoa handle the pressure in the scrum?

Geordan Murphy leads his Leicester Tigers out on to the pitch. There’s no Toby Flood or Manu Tuilagi tonight — they’re both injured. How will Leicester cope without them?

And here come Ulster. “Stand up for the Ulster men” rings out around Ravenhill. Let’s do this…

Roman Poite blows his whistle and Ian Humphries bounces once, bounces twice, and gets us underway.

First touch of the evening for Geordan Murphy who has to be strong to claim a huge up-and-under from Ian Humphries. He’s still got it, our Geordan.

Oooh, Andrew Trimble has gone over in the corner, but Roman Poite is going upstairs to be sure…

TRY! Ulster 7-0 Leicester (Trimble, 6′) It’s a try alright. Brilliant pressure from Ulster who spend two or three minutes in the Tigers 22 hammering away at the gain line. It’s Ferris who makes the decisive break, carrying to five or six yards of the line before the ball is recycled to Trimble who goes over in the corner. Pienaar converts from the tightest of angles.

An immediate response from the Tigers who almost respond with a try of their own within a minute. Alesana Tuilagi scoops up a loose ball and breaks into Ulster territory before trying to unlock the defence with a grubber. Geordan Murphy is first to pounce but Stephen Ferris recovers in time to make a key tackle and Ulster breathe.

PENALTY! Ulster 10-0 Leicester (Pienaar, 11′) Ruan Pienaar has started brilliantly. He nails a penalty from distance after Ben Youngs is penalised. Ulster are in control here.

TRY! Ulster 10-7 Leicester (Murphy, 14′) I wonder if one of the more experienced campaigners in the Tigers team had a quiet word with Ben Youngs there. The scrum-half wastes no time in making amends after conceding that silly penalty. He floats a long ball out wide which misses two or three of his own men and eludes Andrew Trimble before Geordan Murphy plucks it out of the air. The full-back cruises in unopposed, and Twelvetrees converts.

Twenty minutes on the clock and it’s been absolutely breathless stuff so far. Ulster’s strong start has been largely eroded, and now it’s Leicester who have the upper hand — only just though, there’s not a huge amount in it.

Geordan Murphy is left in a heap by a crunching tackle from Zach Tuohy. He’s back on his feet before too long though; those Newbridge lads are made of strong stuff.

After a frantic opening quarter full of open, counter-attacking rugby, this game has settled down into more of a tactical battle. The old men at full-back, 33-year-old Geordan Murphy and 36-year-old Stefan Terblanche, are trying to eke out some territorial gains with long kicks, but they’re largely cancelling each other out at the moment.

Roman Poite gives Ulster the benefit of the doubt at the breakdown. Thomas Waldrom is pinged for holding the ball on the ground, but Rory Best looked to go in off his feet quite easily as well. The penalty is back on the half-way line, but Ruan Pienaar has already nailed one from this range tonight.

PENALTY! Ulster 13-7 (Pienaar, 33′) Pienaar has been flawless so far tonight and he maintains his 100% record with another absolute monster. Brilliant stuff from the South African.

Ravenhill rises as one as Ulster get themselves into an excellent scoring position with two minutes left in the half. Terblanche kicks into the space behind the Tigers defence and when Agulla gathers, he’s driven back over the line under huge pressure from Trimble and Cave.

It’s a carbon copy of the first try as Andrew Trimble goes over again in the corner. We’re going upstairs to be sure, but that’s a try for me…

TRY! Ulster 18-7 (Trimble, 40′) That is a quite brilliant finish by Andrew Trimble, who beats Alesana Tuilagi to go over in the same corner. Off the back of that five-yard scrum, Pienaar flings the ball out wide to the winger who checks one way and goes the other before scoring. Pienaar’s conversion is from the same spot as the first but this one hangs slightly left.

HALF TIME: Ulster 18-7 Leicester Tigers

I’m going to stick the kettle on, but before I do, here are the half-time scores from tonight’s other games.

• Ospreys 25-10 Treviso
• Racing Metro 7-14 Edinburgh
• Ulster 18-7 Leicester

Back in a sec.

The teams are back out for the second half. What was said in both changing rooms at half time? Are Ulster thinking of two more tries and an unexpected bonus points, or will they be happy to just weather the Tigers’ response and win the game?

There’s a bit of handbags from both sets of players to get us started but nothing that a quick word from Roman Poite can’t sort out. Twelvetrees will have a gimme of a penalty for Leicester when we restart…

MISSED PENALTY! Twelvetrees’ penalty comes back off the upright — that’s an awful miss, and a huge let-off for Ulster.

Leicester are really struggling to settle down in the opening seven or eight minutes of this second half. A couple of howlers from the boot of Billy Twelvetrees haven’t really helped matters, but the visitors are still seeing plenty of possession.

Leicester are pinged again for coming in from the side at the breakdown. Pienaar will be backing himself to knock this penalty over…

PENALTY! Ulster 21-7 Leicester (Pienaar, 53′) Pienaar’s kick has the direction and just about has the legs. Another wonderful kick — that two-year extension he signed earlier this week is looking better and better with every passing minute.

PENALTY! Ulster 24-7 Leicester (Pienaar, 56′) This is fast becoming the Ruan Pienaar show. The scrum-half judges another long-range penalty to perfection and Ulster, who are dominating Leicester all over the pitch, are now 17 points up with a little more than 20 minutes to play.

Stefan Terblanche thinks he’s gone over for Ulster’s third try, only to realise that Roman Poite’s whistle has sounded for an earlier infringement. Great refereeing by the eagle-eyed Frenchman who spots a push in the back of one of the Leicester defenders.

A couple of changes to update you on. Brian McLoughlin withdraws Darren Cave, who has been brilliant tonight, and Ian Whitten comes on to replace him in midfield.

For Leicester, Castrogiovanni, Mafi and Smith are all off; Cole, Slater and Staunton come on.

PENALTY! Ulster 27-7 Leicester (Pienaar, 63′) Pienaar kicks his fifth penalty of the night and that, you feel, should be that. Expect Ulster to kick on in search of their bonus point now.

SIN BIN! Dan Cole is sent to the line for some backchat to Roman Poite. The night is going from bad to worse for Leicester who will be down 14 for most of the last 15 minutes.

Ian Humphries gets a standing ovation as he goes off to be replaced by Paul Marshall. George Chuter comes on to replace Rob Hawkins at hooker for Leicester.

TRY! Ulster 34-7 Leicester (Gilroy, 70′) Ulster have their third try of the evening — it’s made in South Africa and finished in Belfast. Ruan Pienaar, Stefan Terblanche and Pedrie Wanneburg combine to release Craig Gilroy and the winger switches on the afterburners to cross and score. Pienaar converts.

TRY! Ulster 41-7 Leicester (Marshall, 73′) Ravenhill erupts as Paul Marshall goes over for Ulster’s fourth try of the evening, wrapping up a bonus-point win that few would have dared to dream of earlier this evening. Leicester are caught with their hands on their hips when Poite whistles for a penalty, Marshall takes it quickly, and races over the line to score.

Chants of “Easy, Easy” ring out around Ravenhill but they’re quickly drowned out by “Swing Low Sweet Chariot”, which is being belted out by the home support.

Andrew Trimble is the Heineken Cup Man of the Match — but you could’ve given it to any one of the men in white tonight, to be honest. They’ve been excellent to a man.

This pretty much sums tonight up.

FULL TIME: Ulster 41-7 Leicester Tigers

So that’s it. It’s been a truly remarkable performance from Ulster who tore into Leicester from the word go and didn’t let up 80 minutes. The Ravenhill crowd are on their feet and rightly so. A night to savour.

And with that, Leicester are effectively out of this year’s Heineken Cup. Ulster, meanwhile, have one more major test to pass before they wrap up a place in the quarter-finals. That comes next week when they travel to Clermont Auvergne who, barring a shock upset against Aironi tomorrow, will need a win to top the pool themselves. It’s all set up nicely, eh?

Before I leave you, a quick word on the night’s other games. Phil Godman has pulled off a Ronan O’Gara-esque miracle to give Edinburgh a huge scalp on the road against Racing Metro, while in Wales, the Ospreys appear to have had it all their own way against Treviso.

• Racing Metro 24-27 Edinburgh
• Ospreys 44-17 Treviso
• Ulster 41-7 Leicester Tigers

That’s all from us for now. We’ll be back tomorrow with minute-by-minute coverage of all tomorrow’s action, with a healthy dose of Premier League football thrown in for good measure.

See you then.