Hands up if you're playing on Saturday! Muller returns to lead the side. Picture from rugbypicture.co.uk
Squad’s up and Brian McLaughlin has included Tom Court, Paddy Wallace, Andrew Trimble, Johann Muller, Ruan Pienaar and Simon Danielli in his provisional squad as Ulster prepare for the crunch encounter at Parc y Scarlets. Rory Best and Stephen Ferris are rested as part of a player management programme implemented post-World Cup.
Court, Wallace and Trimble received limited game time as Ireland exited at the quarter final stage and returned to training with their province this week. South Africa were knocked out on the same weekend, with Pienaar and Muller playing periphery roles towards the end of their campaign. Muller has recovered from a hamstring injury sustained during the tournament and is likely to take the Ulster captaincy for Saturday’s game.
Luke Marshall is not considered after fracturing his jaw in a club game two weeks ago, while Jerry Cronin has suffered a neck injury and is due to get a scan.
The players return at the perfect time for Ulster, who have tasted defeat in their previous three league games. The leadership of Johann Muller will be vital in improving Ulster’s recent discipline and set piece difficulties.
Last season Ulster achieved the double over Scarlets for the first time in this competition, and that proved to be a significant factor in them earning a play-off place. The Scarlets have a poor record against Irish provinces in recent seasons, losing all of their previous 10 matches.
FORWARDS: Paddy McAllister, Callum Black, Tom Court, Adam Macklin, Declan Fitzpatrick, Andi Kyriacou, Nigel Brady, Lewis Stevenson, Johann Muller, Dan Tuohy, Tim Barker, Neil McComb, Michael McComish, Pedrie Wannenburg, Willie Faloon, Chris Henry, Robbie Diack
BACKS: Paul Marshall, Ruan Pienaar, Ian Porter, Ian Humphreys, Paddy Jackson, Paddy Wallace, Nevin Spence, Ian Whitten, Darren Cave, Craig Gilroy, Simon Danielli, Andrew Trimble, Conor Gaston, Peter Nelson, Adam D’Arcy
UNAVAILABLE: Luke Marshall – jaw (3-5 weeks), Jerry Cronin – neck, Jared Payne – achilles (long term injury), Stephen Ferris – IRFU, Rory Best – IRFU
It’s a difficult one to call as the next two games are all about getting set up for the Heineken Cup in Novemeber and this may be the match where a bit of experementation is carried out.
In particular, given Humphreys injuries so far this season, I expect to see Jackson get considerable game time and I would be surprised if they didn’t look at another option at full back. They may also be tempted to look at Tuohy in the back row given the injury record of our Stevie!
These plans may not be as easy to integrate as originally intended, given the run of defeats, as Ulster will also have to build up confidence by targeting two wins before they come up against the big boys on 12th November.
However I’ll stick my neck out and predict the following.
(1 – 15) McAllister, Kyriacou, Court, Muller, Stevenson, Wannenburg, Henry, Diack, Pienaar, Jackson, Gilroy, Wallace, Spence, Trimble, D’Arcy. (16-23) Brady, Fitzpatrick, Black, Barker, Tuohy, Marshall P, Humphreys, Danielli.
Hmm!
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