Look at the guns on that! Ferris returns for Ulster!
John Afoa will go straight into the starting line up for Ulster’s RaboDirect PRO12 game against Connacht on Saturday.
The New Zealand World Cup winner arrived in Belfast on Wednesday and will make his debut at tight head prop in place of Declan Fitzpatrick. The 28 year old, signed from the Auckland Blues in March, made two appearances as the All Blacks went on to lift the Webb Ellis Cup two weeks ago.
Hooker Rory Best and blindside flank Stephen Ferris will make his first starts for Ulster this season after being rested following their exertions at the World Cup with Ireland.
Scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar picked up a hamstring injury in training this week and is likely to be out for 4-6 weeks. He made his first appearance of the season against the Scarlets on Saturday, having been on World Cup duty with South Africa. Paul Marshall, who started the opening six games of the competition, will replace Pienaar in the number 9 jersey, with Ian Porter taking his position on the bench.
This week Darren Cave gets a chance to partner Paddy Wallace in midfield, with Nevin Spence named among the replacements. The back three of Craig Gilroy, Andrew Trimble and Simon Danielli remains unchanged from last weekend.
Best and Afoa are joined by Tom Court to make up an all-International front row, while lock Johann Muller will continue as captain. Ferris’ inclusion will see Pedrie Wannenburg move to number 8, with Chris Henry starting at openside flanker.
Connacht have only beaten Ulster once in the past eight seasons and have not won in Belfast since 1960. Even so, Ulster coach Brian McLaughlin is not taking anything for granted:
They have a settled team and have started the season very well. Three wins and three losing bonus points suggests that they are going to be very difficult opposition, but we know that already. They are quick starters so we will have to be ready at the off to ensure we come away on Saturday with the win.
McLaughlin is delighted to be able to call on Afoa straight away:
It was crucial that John got to know our structures and our system straight away so he has had a couple of training sessions already. We are looking forward to seeing him play and looking forward to seeing what he can add to our game.
We’re delighted to have Stevie (Ferris) and Rory (Best) back in the team too. Stevie hasn’t played for us since January so it’s a big day for him. Stevie brings great energy and physicality to the team and it’s brilliant to have him available with some massive games coming up. To have Rory in there too is excellent. It helps Johann as far as leadership is concerned and we are very hopeful that he can bring his World Cup form to Ravenhill at the weekend and get us back on the right track.
The inclusion of those three has been tampered somewhat by the omission of Ruan Pienaar, but McLaughlin feels he has a more than capable replacement:
When you lose someone of Ruan’s calibre it’s obviously a blow, but Paul Marshall has done brilliantly so far this season, and when he was asked to play last season, so we’re happy with the situation.
Ulster: (15-9): Simon Danielli, Andrew Trimble, Darren Cave, Paddy Wallace, Craig Gilroy, Ian Humphreys, Paul Marshall. (1-8): Tom Court, Rory Best, John Afoa, Johann Muller (capt), Dan Tuohy, Stephen Ferris, Chris Henry, Pedrie Wannenburg, (16-23): Andi Kyriacou, Paddy McAllister, Adam Macklin, Lewis Stevenson, Robbie Diack, Ian Porter, Nevin Spence, Adam D’Arcy
Unavailable due to injury: Jared Payne (achilles), Luke Marshall (jaw), Jerry Cronin (neck), Declan Fitzpatrick (ankle), Ruan Pienaar (hamstring).
Connacht: (15-9) Tiernan O’Halloran, Fetu’u Vainikolo, Gavin Duffy (C), Dave McSharry, Brian Tuohy, Miah Nikora, Paul O’Donohoe. (1-8) Brett Wilkinson, Adrian Flavin, Rodney Ah You, Michael Swift, Mike McCarthy, TJ Anderson, Eoghan Grace, George Naoupu. (16-23) Ethienne Reynecke, Ronan Loughney, Dylan Rogers, Dave Gannon, John Muldoon, Frank Murphy, Niall O’Connor, Matthew Jarvis.
Connacht have made six changes to their last start and I must say I’m disappointed not to see my old friend Niall O’Connor starting but hopefully he should see some action from the bench. FRU favourite TJ Anderson does make an appearance and he will be up against it facing the beast that is Stevie Ferris who is making a welcome return for Ulster.
The euphoria that was generated earlier this week with the signing of Terblanche and the arrival of Afoa has somewhat dissipated with the injury to Pienaar and while it may have not too much of an effect on the outcome of this game it is a worry going into Ulster’s busiest month this season so far. Such is our lot in life and it’s time for the supporters to get behind Paul Marshall and Ian Porter as these are the guys that are going to have to see us through our initial Heineken Cup matches.
Both can do a good enough job if Ulster can conjure up that vital front foot ball, something that has been missing in the last four outings. McLaughlin has, once again gone for bulk rather than guile in the back row, and I must say that the selection of our loose forwards is starting to worry me, rather more than the availability of our number one scrum half. Ferris is a walk in at six if fit and available but Henry at seven and Wannenburg at eight aren’t in my book. In the long term Ulster should be looking to put a bit of pace on the ball at the breakdown rather than look for the confrontation as there a few big units coming through our books at the moment. We really should be looking for a style that suits the make up of our developing players rather than condemning ourselves to the necessity of purchasing players to play a style we cannot sustain.
I’d be much much happier seeing Faloon and Diack in those roles or even Faloon and Henry at seven and eight as Ulster’s long term future depends on outsmarting, rather than out muscling our opponents. I really can’t see long term success with the current back row selection’cos if you take big Stevie out of the equation, and let’s face it , that has something of an inevitability about it, then the current backrow loses a lot of it’s effectiveness.
Faloon and Diack may not have shown the best of form recently but to me they are much faster and have much more potential to play a varied game and it’s been one of my big regrets that they were not persevered with in a meaningful fashion last season and this. In the next month Ulster are going to be out-muscled up front and when that happens we’ve really nothing in place to fall back on.
I am pleased that they have persevered with Danielli at full back as he has the potential to be better than D’Arcy and Cave ads a bit of stability in the centre though Paddy is going to have to up his game to justify Spence benching.
Perhaps I’m looking too far ahead for as far as this game goes Ulster should have the wherewithal to dispose of Connacht reasonably comfortably. We have a huge advantage in the pack and that should tell in the second half allowing Ulster to pull clear with something to spare. Things may be different over the following two weeks though!
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