Ulster have announced the squad for the Dragons game:
Ulster Coach Brian McLaughlin has named a 27 man squad ahead of this Friday’s match against the Dragons at Ravenhill (KO. 7.05pm)
Declan Fitzpatrick is included amongst the forwards for the first time since the early part of the season, having made good recovery from a calf injury while Ireland’s Tom Court and Stephen Ferris as well as South Africa’s Ruan Pienaar are also named in the panel following the end of the Autumn International Series.
The Ulster team and replacements will be named this Thursday
FORWARDS: Tom Court, Declan Fitzpatrick, Paddy McAllister, Bryan Young, BJ Botha, Nigel Brady, Andi Kyriacou, Tim Barker, Dan Tuohy, Neil McComb, Pedrie Wannenburg, Willie Faloon, Stephen Ferris, Chris Henry. BACKS: Adam D’Arcy, David McIlwaine, Jamie Smith, Andrew Trimble, Darren Cave, Simon Danielli, Paddy Wallace, Nevin Spence, Ian Whitten, Ian Humphreys, Niall O’Connor, Paul Marshall, Ruan Pienaar
The main surprises are who isn’t there rather than who is with four try hero Craig Gilroy missing, believed to be down with the cold. The absence of Ryan Caldwell and Muller leaves us a bit short in second row, though I do rate Neil McComb.
The rest of the squad is pretty much as expected and a rejuvenated Declan Fitzpatrick adds more competition to an already pleasantly competitive front row, though I can’t see any of the other four making way over the next couple of games.
The main selection talking points to me are back row and half backs and we may see some interesting transitions here as I suspect Ulster will start with the guys who have stood up over the last couple of weeks but will gently morph into the more likely starters for the upcoming Heineken Cup fixtures. On reflection I suppose you’d include the full back berth as well in that scenario
To that end I see them starting with Wannenburg, Faloon and Henry in the back row with Ferris coming on for the South African after 60 minutes – with the roles reversed next week! At half back I see Humphreys and Paul Marshall kicking off with the unfortunate Marshall swapped out for Pienaar at half time (which should give an interesting comparison!) and at full back they’ll start with D’Arcy but I expect to see Jamie Smith in place by the end of the game.
The FRU XXIII would therefore read as follows: (1-15) Young, Brady, Botha, Barker, Tuohy, Wannenburg, Faloon Henry, Marshall, Humphreys, Danielli, Wallace, Whitten, Trimble, D’Arcy. (16-23) Kyriacou, Court, McAllister, McComb, Ferris, Pienaar, Cave, Smith.
What do you think? Let me know below!
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