To infinity and beyond for Craig Gilroy!
This is taken from the BBC site.
Bryan Young returns to the Ulster team for Saturday’s pre-season friendly at the Stoop (1430 BST).
The prop has recovered from a hip injury which led to his withdrawal from the squad ahead of last Friday’s 26-14 defeat by Bath at Ravenhill.
Ulster coach Brian McLaughlin has made nine changes from the line-up which faced Bath.
Darren Cave and Ian Whitten are the only survivors in the backs while Paul Marshall is out with a shoulder injury.
Queens’ player David McIlwaine replaces Jamie Smith, who sustained an eye injury, at full-back.
Craig Gilroy and Nevin Spence come in for Mark McCrea and Tommy Seymour on the wings and O’Connor and Porter come in at half-backs in place of Ian Humphreys and Marshall.
Declan Fitzpatrick retains his front row position while Andi Kyriacou is in at hooker for Nigel Brady.
Muller’s partner in the second row will be Ryan Caldwell while the only change to the back three is the inclusion of TJ Anderson in place of Willie Faloon at openside.
Ulster: David McIlwaine; Craig Gilroy, Darren Cave, Ian Whitten, Nevin Spence; Niall O’Connor, Ian Porter; Bryan Young, Andi Kyriacou, Declan Fitzpatrick; Johann Muller (capt), Ryan Caldwell; Pedrie Wannenburg, TJ Anderson, Robbie Diack. Replacements: Nigel Brady, Paul Kyrayiannis, Adam Macklin, Tim Barker, Neil McComb, Michael Heaney, Ian Humphreys, Luke Marshall, Johnny Shiels, Mark McCrea
So there you go an interesting selection. On a personal note great to see Larne man David McIlwaine début at full back and we’d like to wish the young Queens full back the best of luck.
Great to see Gliroy, Spence and Porter all starting and I’m sure that Luke Marshall and scrum half Heaney will get a run. Heaney certainly impressed me with his Ireland U20 outings in Argentina during the summer.
At the end of the day this could either be a great move for Ulster or it could end up a disaster but my (ample) gut feeling is that McLaughlin has gambled in the right direction in giving these youngsters an opportunity to show their skills.
I expect a high scoring match with Ulster looking to counter at every opportunity and while I may be in a minority of one for this one I’m going to go for the youngsters to come good and just edge it.
Can’t wait, and look out for the report and pictures on Sunday – we’ll be there!
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5 Responses to “Ulster début for Gilroy”
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Congratulations to the FRU for making the effort to support the lads and the boys on the pitch at der Stoop, wish I could join youse, but there you go.
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Yeah – good to see Mcglocks trying out a few of the potential future ulster players.
I was talking to young David McIlwaine on fri night after the bath match and he was hoping to get a run out on one of the 2 remaining friendlies. Good luck to young Mackie and the other debutants and hope they have a good game
John / Phil – pass on my regards to Joe snr & Joe jnr as no doubt you’ll meet up for a beer or two………. or in Joe jnr’s case maybe a shandy or two !!!
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Junty …….. will do, at least you can get guinness in England if not at Ravenhill.
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Phil – thats true. Although i must confess that the murphys was ok……. albeit not guinness but probably as good as a badly poured guinness and i’ve had afew of those at the beer tent in ravenhill
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Hmmm – not sure i share your optimism Ed. Watched the youthful backline in training on Thursday and they looked far from impressive. However, the experience will do them no harm and a pre-seaon friendly is, no doubt, the ideal situation to throw them into the deep-end and see how they swim. Might just be a steep learning curve for some of them, but they have to start somewhere. Good to see young McIlwaine in the team. Good luck to them.
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