RUBGY: Ryan Caldwell and David Pollock have both been named in the Ulster starting XV ahead of their trip to face Cardiff in the Magners League on Friday night.
Caldwell got the nod after Italian lock Carlo Del Fava was ruled out after picking up a neck injury in the province's opening defeat at Ravenhill against the Scarlets. Ireland A star Caldwell will partner new Ulster recruit Ed O'Donoghue.
Pollock did enough to start ahead of Kieron Dawson, who drops to the bench, and will line out alongside Matt McCullough and Robbie Diack in the backrow.
Thomas Anderson's versatility means he is named on the bench as cover for the secondrow or backrow if necessary.
Assistant coach Steve Williams is hoping Ulster can bounce back from their opening defeat with a win on the road.
"They are a strong side, they played well against Leinster at the weekend and we are expecting a strong challenge, but our lads know what we have to do," said Williams.
"We have some very experienced players in our side who know what it is like to play away in Wales and are hungry to come away with a win."
Meanwhile David Young has named a 22-man squad ahead of the game and is expecting a tough encounter against Williams' men.
"I've no doubt it will be another difficult game for us against quality opposition. Ulster are an improving team and a hungry team," said Young.
"The Scarlets went over to Belfast last week and won, so I'm sure they will come over to Cardiff breathing fire. They have a lot of quality players in key positions and also won the League in 2006. They will also be a lot fresher than us, having only played one match, but I'm not offering that as an excuse.
"We were all very disappointed after our last two games, but there were some positives from both matches. We did a lot of things to put us in a position to dominate the game and win the territory but we know we have to be far more clinical to win these types of games."
"We have to show a bit of character in Friday's match, but equally importantly, we have to show purpose in the way we play. Home games are paramount to us and we have to make sure we get the right result."
Leinster coach Michael Cheika also named his starting XV to face Edinburgh on Friday night with Stan Wright coming into the frontrow as one of two changes to the pack that drew the opening game against Cardiff.
Trevor Hogan starts alongside Malcolm O'Kelly in the second row with Ronan McCormack moving to loose-head prop.
In the backline, Ireland duo Luke Fitzgerald and Girvan Dempsey come into a new back three which again features Rob Kearney. Brian O'Driscoll continues his centre partnership with Argentina captain Felipe Contepomi, with Jonathan Sexton again partnering skipper Chris Whitaker at halfback.
Shane Horgan and Isa Nacewa are named amongst a strong list of replacements that includes Cian Healy and John Fogarty.
Ulster team: C Schifcofske; A Trimble, D Cave, R Dewey, T Nagusa; P Wallace, l Boss; J Fitzpatrick; R Best (C), B Botha, R Caldwell, E O'Donoghue, M McCullough, D Pollock, R Diack.
Replacements: N Brady, T Court, K Dawson, T Anderson, C Willis, N O'Connor, B Cunningham
Leinster team: G Dempsey, L Fitzgerald, B O'Driscoll, F Contepomi, R Kearney, J Sexton, C Whitaker (C), R McCormack, B Jackman, S Wright, T Hogan, M O'Kelly, C Jowitt, S Jennings, J Heaslip. Replacements: C Healy, J Fogarty, D Toner, S O'Brien, C Keane, S Horgan, I Nacewa
Edinburgh team:H Southwell, M Robertson, C MacRae, N De Luca, C Paterson, P Godman, M Blair (C), A Jacobsen, R Ford, G Cross, C Hamilton, B Gissing, M Mustchin, A Hogg, S Newlands.
Replacements: S Lawrie, G Kerr, S Turnbull, A Kelly, G Laidlaw, D Blair, A Turnbull
Cardiff Blues squad: B Blair, L Halfpenny, J Robinson, G Thomas, C Czekaj, N Robinson, D Allinson, M Lewis, M Williams, M Molitika, P Tito (C), B Davies, G Powell, T Rhys Thomas, G Jenkins, J Yapp, G Williams, S Morgan, A Powell, J Spice, C Sweeney
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