Anscombe adjusts for absentees

Rugby:Ulster coach Mark Anscombe has changed all but one of the pack that started in the win over the Dragons last week, ahead of the meeting with Edinburgh at Ravenhill tomorrow (7.05pm).

Lock Lewis Stevenson is the only player to retain his place among the forwards and he will be joined by Neil McComb, with captain and hooker Nigel Brady and props Callum Black and John Afoa named in the frontrow.

Stephen Ferris has returned from a back injury to take his place at blindside flanker, with Mike McComish and Roger Wilson coming in at openside and number eight respectively.

Ricky Andrew will make his first start at fullback, with Jared Payne moving to outside centre, while Chris Cochrane will make his fourth appearance for Ulster after being named on the right wing.

Development prop Ricky Lutton will earn his first ever cap if he is used.

Table-toppers Ulster are unbeaten this season, while Edinburgh have lost six since beating Zebre 41-10 at Murrayfield in September

Like Anscombe, who has only three (Craig Gilroy, Ferris and Paul Marshall) of his 14 Ireland internationals available to him, Edinburgh coach Michael Bradley is missing some frontline players, but he is hoping his side can get back on track while his opponents are depleted.

"There's a lot to play for in what is effectively a mini-series of games coming up during the internationals,” said the former Connacht coach today. "This is the squad we'll be asking to win games and, because of the changes imposed on both Ulster and Edinburgh by availability, the game is up for grabs for whichever 15 players takes hold of it.

"It's a great challenge for us. We've had a disappointing run of late and have spoken about how great a place it would be to end that run, so we're approaching the game in a very positive frame of mind.

"Ravenhill has become a bit of a fortress so it's a daunting task. They will be well supported and are on an unbeaten run but, from our point of view, we're desperate to get a win, we've trained well this week and are very focussed and driven to do a job in Ulster."

Of the 12 Edinburgh Rugby players selected for Scotland's EMC Test matches next month,

Scotland internationals Grant Gilchrist (lock), Stuart McInally (number eight) and Lee Jones (wing) return to the starting line-up, but Allan Jacobsen will continue his recovery from a hamstring injury on the bench.

With Greig Laidlaw unavailable, Sean Cox assumes the captaincy, and starts on the blindside of a new-look backrow, with open-side Roddy Grant and McInally.

Ulster: R Andrew; C Cochrane, J Payne, P Wallace, C Gilroy; R Pienaar, P Marshall; C Black, N Brady (capt), J Afoa, L Stevenson, N McComb, S Ferris, M McComish, R Wilson. Replacements: N Annett, R Lutton, A Macklin, R Diack, N Williams, N O'Connor, S Olding, P Nelson.

Edinburgh: G Tonks; L Jones, J Houston, J King; T Brown; G Hunter, C Leck; J Yapp, A Titterrell, W Nel; G Gilchrist, R McAlpine; S Cox (capt), R Grant, S McInally. Replacements: A Walker, A Jacobsen, L Niven, I van der Westhuizen, H Watson, R Rees, D Fife, S Visser.