McFarland’s hand strengthened by return of Irish contingent
AFTER a memorable November with the national side, Ulster’s Ireland contingent will start December with a PRO14 tussle at Kingspan Stadium.
Ulster head coach Dan McFarland has been able to call on six players who recently donned the green jersey for this afternoon’s visit from Cardiff (3pm kick-off ).
Centre Stuart McCloskey and Rob Herring, the latter of whom will be representing the province for the 150th time, are both back in the starting side after playing against the USA last week, ultimately missing only one game for their province thanks to their international commitments having last played against Benetton out in Italy at the start of the month.
Influential scrum-half John Cooney will start for Ulster for the first time since the mid-October clash with Leicester Tigers, relegating Dave Shanahan, the side’s top try scorer, to the bench.
Jordi Murphy (right), who started against USA last week as well as against Italy and also came off the bench against the All Blacks, is the fourth of Joe Schmidt’s squad in McFarland’s starting line-up. The former Leinster man starts in the backrow alongside Marcell Coetzee and Sean Reidy.
Neither Will Addison or Iain Henderson — the final two men from Ulster’s Ireland players — are involved after being subbed off in Test action against the USA last weekend.
In Henderson’s absence, Alan O’Connor and Kieran Treadwell, both having played in all of Ulster’s games this season, continue in the engine room while Ian Nagle is on the bench having made his debut for his third province last weekend. There are two more internationals on the bench with skipper Rory Best backing up Herring while Jacob Stockdale is in the No.23 jersey.
With Stockdale held in reserve, it is a somewhat re-jigged Ulster backline.
Louis Ludik, who played in the centre last week, switches to the wing, playing opposite Henry Speight, and it is James Hume who keeps his place in the mid- field alongside McCloskey.
Having resisted the temptation to move Ludik to full-back, Mike Lowry is still in the No.15 jersey while Andy Warwick and Marty Moore are the starting props.
Craig Gilroy, who has been dealing with a back injury, as well as Darren Cave, who returned last week after a broken thumb, aren’t in the matchday 23. The province’s long-term absentees remain Luke Marshall, Wiehahn Herbst and David Busby, while Kyle McCall has recently made his return from an elbow injury in Ballynahinch colours.