Fifth defeat of season will crank up pressure
Ulster will not want to lose a third interprovincial derby this term — Leinster triumphed on their visit back in October — and they must also steady the ship today with an ominous-looking return tie with Leinster coming up on Saturday ahead of two crucial European group games against La Rochelle and Wasps which follow on in January.
Suffering a fifth defeat of the season today, never mind the damage losing back-to-back interpros will cause, will hugely intensify the pressure on Les Kiss and especially so with the prospect that more reverses may quickly follow in this month’s critical block of games.
Kiss has endured his fair share of bad luck, and has nevertheless won 10 games this season, but he badly needs his side to deliver today despite his injury and sickness list — plus the fact that he utilised Iain Henderson and Jacob Stockdale in Galway meaning they are stood down for this game — having had an impact on selection.
After the dire effort in Galway, which again highlighted Ulster’s defensive issues, only Craig Gilroy, Louis Ludik, John Cooney and Nick Timoney are retained. Kiss was always going to go stronger for the home meeting with Munster with Timoney switching from number eight to flanker to accommodate the much-anticipated return from injury of Jean Deysel.
Kiss has gone for an all-new front row which sees Rob Herring back on board and leading the side and he starts props Kyle McCall and Rodney Ah You who are both just back from injury.
Alan O’Connor and Kieran Treadwell are reunited in the engine room while Greg Jones joins Deysel and Timoney in a new-look back-row. A crucial part of Ulster’s game-plan — if the forwards can deliver decent possession — will undoubtedly hinge on the half-back pairing of Cooney with Christian Leali’ifano, the latter returning after being rested for Connacht.
Stuart McCloskey is also back, after shaking off illness, and hooks up with Ludik in midfield while, on the wing, Rob Lyttle gets his first starting place of the season.
On the bench, Kiss can call upon three members of the 200cap club in Robbie Diack, Andrew Trimble and Paul Marshall. Though Munster are heading north with a hugely changed starting side — 11 alterations in all have been made to the team which lost to Leinster on Boxing Day — the hosts dare not take them lightly as the southern province still possess some notable talent.
The most obvious threats are contained in their backline where both Simon Zebo and Keith Earls (right) are at fullback and outside centre respectively, while winger Alex Wootton is no slouch with seven tries in 12 games.
Should any space be found today then they can fully exploit it whether counter-attacking from deep or off phased possession.
And if they want ball trucked up the middle off set-piece plays then former Ulster player Sam Arnold ticks the boxes here. Out-half JJ Hanrahan will also doubtless be probing the corners or launching bombs.
In the pack, the front row of James Cronin, Niall Scannell and John Ryan looks strong as does their useful back row containing Tommy O’Donnell, impressive South African Chris Cloete and Jack O’Donoghue.