Welford Road assignment a huge test of Ulster's capabilities

AFTER THE latest tour de force by Stephen Ferris and the opportunism of Ian Humphreys helped to see off Clermont last week, to a degree the pressure is off Ulster, whereas this is a must-win game for the misfiring Tigers.

Nonetheless, as last season’s breakthrough campaign underlined, after 11 seasons of failing to qualify from the pool stages, picking up some points on the road is crucial for Ulster.

At the very least you’d imagine they will need to extract something from this game. It appears to be a good time to be taking on Leicester, who languish in 10th place in their domestic league.

Although buoyed by their gritty win over Clermont, Ulster’s prospects of matching Leicester’s traditional fire-power up front have been hit with John Afoa’s return to New Zealand to fulfil a prior engagement as best man at the wedding of ex-Auckland Blues team-mate Jerome Kaino.

Declan Fitzpatrick is called up, while Paddy Wallace has had an operation to repair tendon damage in his thumb, which is likely to sideline him for six to eight weeks, with Nevin Spence promoted to the starting line-up.

The promotion of Spence and Fitzpatrick means Paddy Jackson and Adam Macklin are named on the bench. The development duo will make their European debut if they emerge on Saturday.

“Declan has proved to be a very good tighthead prop. A couple of years ago against Stade Français in this competition he proved what he is capable of at this level,” said Brian McLaughlin. “To lose Paddy is a blow. After the World Cup he came back itching to play and it’s very unfortunate for him.

“But in Nevin Spence we have an able replacement and we have no doubts he can do an excellent job for us. We are very fortunate to have a lot of depth in that area.

“Welford Road has always been a very difficult place to go. Maybe with the World Cup they haven’t got off to the best of starts but with their internationals back they will be a tough nut to crack. But we are going there full of confidence,” said McLaughlin.

Indeed Leicester – who welcome back Argentinian winger Horacio Agulla in place of Niall Morris and English scrumhalf Ben Youngs to the bench – have yet to win at home this season, losing to Exeter, Saracens (by 50-25) and Harlequins before chucking away a big lead in drawing against London Irish.

With Billy Twelvetrees and Manu Tuilagi sidelined, their midfield especially looks a little short on quality. However, they are defending an unbeaten run of 16 matches in the Heineken Cup at home and will undoubtedly be targeting this competition and this match to kick-start their season.

It also constitutes a notable landmark for captain Geordan Murphy, who will equal predecessor Martin Corry’s record number of Heineken Cup games for the club as he makes his 69th appearance in the competition.

“Ulster are a good side and picked up a couple of away wins last year,” said Murphy. “They will fancy coming to Welford Road. They’ve made some really good signings over the last couple of years with guys like Ruan Pienaar, Pedrie Wannenburg and John Afoa . . but they have some very good young Irish players as well – Ian Humphreys, Steve Ferris and Andrew Trimble.”

Leicester will look to their scrum and maul to put themselves on the front foot and, if they succeed, with Romain Poite in charge it could be a long day at the office for Ulster.

LEICESTER TIGERS: G Murphy [capt]; H Agulla, M Smith, A Forsyth, A Tuilagi; T Flood, S Harrison; M Ayerza, G Chuter, D Cole, L Deacon, G Parling, T Croft, J Salvi, T Waldrom. Replacements: R Hawkins, B Stankovich, M Castrogiovanni, G Skivington, S Mafi, B Youngs, J Staunton, N Morris.

ULSTER RUGBY: S Danielli; A Trimble, D Cave, N Spence, C Gilroy; I Humphreys, P Marshall; T Court, R Best, D Fitzpatrick, J Muller [capt], D Tuohy, S Ferris, C Henry, P Wannenburg. Replacements: N Brady, P McAllister, A Macklin, L Stevenson, W Faloon, I Porter, P Jackson, A D’Arcy.

Referee: Romain Poite (France)

Betting (Paddy Powers): 1/9 Leicester, 25/1 Draw, 5/1 Ulster. Handicap odds (Ulster + 12pts) 10/11 Leicester, 25/1 draw, 10/11 Ulster.

Forecast: Leicester to win.