Chris Henry to lead on Friday night.
Tom Court, Chris Henry, Paddy Wallace and Dan Tuohy will all be available for Ulster’s RaboDirect PRO12 trip to Cardiff this Friday. KO 7:05 Live on BBCNI.
The players will be released from the Ireland squad but fellow Internationals Stephen Ferris, Andrew Trimble and Rory Best remain unavailable for selection.
Ulster’s 31 man squad contains a mix of youth and experience, with Henry taking over the captaincy in the absence of Johann Muller through injury. The 27 year old led the side admirably when Muller and Rory Best were on World Cup duty earlier in the season.
Muller will miss a second consecutive match following the calf injury he picked up last week in training, while Ali Birch is the only fresh injury after he picked up a knee injury in Friday’s win over Dragons.
Ulster have won seven of the previous nine games in all competitions, with six of those wins producing four try bonus points. Cardiff are also showing good form, particularly at home, where they have lost just one of their last eight games.
Ulster produced one of their best recent performances in this fixture last season, with Craig Gilroy scoring two debut tries to help secure a 15-37 win. The Ulstermen then completed the double over their Welsh rivals with a 32-13 success at Ravenhill.
Forwards: Callum Black, Adam Macklin, John Afoa, Tom Court, Jerry Cronin, Paddy McAllister, Andi Kyriacou, Nigel Brady, Lewis Stevenson, Tim Barker, Dan Tuohy, Neil McComb, Willie Faloon, Chris Henry, Mike McComish, Robbie Diack
Backs: Paul Marshall, Ruan Pienaar, Ian Porter, Ian Humphreys, Luke Marshall, Paddy Wallace, Ian Whitten, Nevin Spence, Michael Allen, Stefan Terblanche, Craig Gilroy, Conor Gaston, Simon Danielli, Chris Cochrane, Adam D’Arcy
Unavailable: Declan Fitzpatrick, Jared Payne, Pedrie Wannenburg, Darren Cave, Johann Muller, Ali Birch, Stephen Ferris, Rory Best, Andrew Trimble.
Don’t expect too many changes from Friday’s run out against the Dragons, except to make way for the returning international benchwarmers.
Court and Afoa to start up front with, given the coach’s propensity to rotate the hookers, Brady in the middle. Stevenson may pay the price for missing the catch at the kick off in the Dragons game with Barker stepping up to the starting spot.
I would go for a back row of Henry, Faloon and Diack but the powers that be in Ulster and Ireland seem to want Henry playing at 7 so Faloon may be the one to miss out with McComish playing at 6.
My back-line would be Pienaar, Humphreys, Danielli, Wallace, Whitten, Gilroy and Terblanche but I expect to see Terblanche at wing and D’Arcy at full back with Danielli missing out.
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