COCKERILL HOPES NEL SOARS AGAIN

EDINBURGH head coach Richard Cockerill is hoping influential tight-head prop WP Nel remains relatively injury-free this season as he eyes a return to the Pro14 play-offs. The Scotland international has suffered an array of problems over recent seasons, including a serious neck injury, broken arm and ankle issues, which have curtailed his appearances for club and country. Tonight, Nel is due to make his first appearance of the season as Edinburgh travel to Ulster, where his physicality will be vital against opposition who have former Scotland forwards coach Dan McFarland in charge. ‘WP is part of the SRU management group, so we have to look after him from a national point of view and give him rest after a set number of games,’ said Cockerill. ‘We also manage him as an individual because of his previous injuries. He’s important to us and when he’s fit, he is as good as anyone around. ‘It’s his first start of the season against Ulster and our scrum creaked a little bit last week, so I’m hoping WP’s presence will add that bit of ballast and know-how to that set-piece.’ Simon Berghan, who started at tight-head in the opening-day defeat at Ospreys, has been dropped from the squad entirely. ‘I thought Simon was a bit short of match fitness as we couldn’t play him pre-season because he had been away with Scotland over the summer,’ said Cockerill. ‘He’ll go and play club rugby this weekend to get minutes under his belt. ‘WP takes over from him and Murray McCallum keeps his place on the bench because he played well down in Wales. ‘As a squad, we have worked really hard this week, especially on ball control and set-piece, making sure we execute well in the right areas. ‘We know the Ulster crowd will be vocal and will be behind their team, so we need to control the game and field position to keep their support as quiet as possible.’ Kick-off: 7.35pm at Kingspan Stadium. TV: LIVE on Premier Sports 1. Referee: Stuart Berry.