Quins' Heaney gets a start for the Ravens.
Ulster Rugby have announced the Ravens side for tomorrow’s make or break match against London Welsh.
The Ulster Ravens travel to play London Welsh at Old Deer Park this Saturday in the British & Irish Cup competition looking to bounce back from a 20—25 defeat last weekend to Neath and Belfast’s Shaws’ Bridge venue.
Ulster’s youngsters led 17-3 at the half-time break but were overpowered in the second half by a far more experienced Neath side who scored two late tries to steal the victory.
Ulster Ravens: (15-9) Mark McCrea; Tommy Seymour, Michael Allen, Luke Marshall, Craig Gilroy; Patrick Jackson, Michael Heaney. (1-8) Conor Carey, Niall Annett, Alan Whitten, Ryan Caldwell, Ian Henderson, Scott Lavella, David McGuigan, Neil McComb. (16-22) John Burns, Kyle McCall, Ross Hackney, Paul Pritchard, Blane McIlroy, Niall O’Connor, Johnny Shiels.
Hurrah! All of the 4 2 Follow are starting for the Ravens tomorrow so a win is on the cards!
Seriously though, this years competition is as it should be, which is an opportunity for the Ulster youngsters to get a few knocks and bags of experience against some of the English and Welsh semi pro sides.
Yet again Ulster have selected exciting young backs with Belfast Harlequins’ Michael Heaney getting a welcome run out at scrum half. Hopefully he’ll get enough ball to unleash Jackson, Gliroy and Marshall who look to be building strong partnerships for the years to come. Mark McCrea also gets some game time as a late replacement for Jamie Smith.
It’s a more youthful looking pack than previously with Carey, Caldwell and McComb being the more experienced members so it’ll be a big test up front. The back row is a strange mix with McComb and Lavella adding a lot of grunt but maybe not much pace so it looks like it’s going to be a busy afternoon for FRU favourite Dave McGuigan.
Ulster’s opponents have yet to win this season and the Ravens will need to bag a win tomorrow if they are to challenge Bedford and Moseley for one of the play off places.
| Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | +/- | BP | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Bedford Blues |
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 93 | 42 | 51 | 1 | 13 |
| Moseley |
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 52 | 43 | 9 | 2 | 10 |
 Ulster Ravens |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 74 | 73 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
 Neath |
2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 31 | 33 | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| Swansea |
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 34 | 60 | -26 | 1 | 1 |
| London Welsh |
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 35 | 68 | -33 | 1 | 1 |
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