The combative Cave should get a half against Aironi.
Ulster coach Brian McLaughlin has named a 30 man squad for the upcoming game against Aironi at Ravenhill on Friday 4th March (KO 19.05).
Ulster have again been bolstered by the return of Tom Court and Paddy Wallace from the Ireland 6 Nations squad. The squad is almost at full strength and will be hoping to build on a magnificent bonus point victory over Cardiff last week.
Aironi are without a win in their first ever Magners Legue campaign but have showed on a number of occasions that they have the ability to cause an upset. A perfect example is their 28-27 win over French giants Biarritz in the Heineken Cup.
FORWARDS: Jerry Cronin, Declan Fitzpatrick, Paddy McAllister, Bryan Young, Tom Court, Nigel Brady, Andi Kyriacou, Neil McComb, Johann Muller, Tim Barker, Pedrie Wannenburg, TJ Anderson, Willie Faloon, Chris Henry, Robbie Diack.
BACKS: Ruan Pienaar, Paul Marshall, Ian Humphreys, Niall O’Connor, Paddy Wallace, Ian Whitten, Nevin Spence, Luke Marshall, Darren Cave, Andrew Trimble, Simon Danielli, Tommy Seymour, Craig Gilroy, Jamie Smith, Adam D’Arcy.
Of note this week is the absence of Caldwell and the presence of Cave.
I really do hope that Ulster look to develop the faster paced game that they discovered last Friday and If I was selecting I would make minimum changes to the starting line up for this match. I suspect however that Ulster have pretty much selected their starting XV for Northampton and will use this game to give out a bit of squad rotation and field some players who have been inactive of late.
Word on the street is that Botha isn’t going to be available come April so I think they’ll have a look at McAllister and Court in tandem alongside inform hooker Kyriacou. McComb will get a rare start alongside Barker, with Muller benched, and it’ll be an interesting back row of Anderson, Henry and Diack with Wannenburg benched and Willie wrapped in cotton wool.
It’s a different matter in the backs where wear and tear is not quite such a big issue but I expect that Luke Marshall will be asked to step aside to give Paddy Wallace some game time and Ian Whitten will also drop out of the match day squad to be replaced by Cave who should come on in place of Spence for the bulk of the second half – though it is still all to play for between these two. I also suspect they’ll want a look at the more physical Danielli at full back with D’Arcy dropping to the bench.
FRU XXIII: McAllister, Kyriacou, Court, McComb, Barker, Anderson, Henry, Diack, Pienaar, Humphreys, Gilroy, Wallace, Spence, Trimble, Danielli. Subs: Brady, Fitzpatrick , Young, Muller, Wannenburg, Paul Marshall, Cave, D’Arcy.
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8 Responses to “Magners League: Squad for Aironi”
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Echos my recent view on the front row.
Lets keep the in-form Greek Adonis in place to maintain the upward momentum.
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Teacher to rotate Nigel and Andi this week with Nigel getting the start.
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@Raging Raven – gave you the thumbs down for your content
We’ll see if Andi makes an appearance after 52 minutes then?
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My “guess” would be 50 minutes.
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watching the game back on sky+ when Nigel came on he had a great game, so i would say both Andi and Nigel are showing great form and i would give either the start and and the other brought on at 50mins.
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Gilroy may be the one to lose out in the backline as he seemed to take a knock on the head
(on the better safe than sorry principle — a rest could be the order of the day)
This could give a bench place to Seymour who could go to wing if Danielli moved to full back for D’Arcy
I wouldn’t be surprise to see Pienaar have some more game time at outhalf after half-time
Can’t see Muller and Wannenberg both benched for the same match could see one starting and subed ie a half each ie Mullar starting with Diack and McComb and Wannenberg coming on as subs 50 -60 min mark
The experience of the saffies being used to keep the focus of the forwards on the task
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N.B the above half time changes would be subject to Ulster having a 5 pointer lead early in second half
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@the mote
According to RTE Rugby Pienaar starts at 10.
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