Rugby – Team news:Ulster coach Brian McLaughlin has named his starting XV to face Newport Gwent Dragons in their decisive Magners League clash at Rodney Parade tomorrow night (kick-off 7.05pm).
Props Tom Court and Declan Fitzpatrick have returned to full fitness and will pack down alongside skipper Rory Best in the frontrow. Their return to action sees Paddy McAllister and Jerry Cronin named among the replacements.
Willie Faloon suffered a shoulder injury in training and his place at number eight goes to Robbie Diack. As a result, Pedrie Wannenburg moves to blindside flanker and Chris Henry switches to the openside flank. TJ Anderson, who will join Connacht in the summer, will serve a s cover from the bench.
The backline is unchanged from the win over Connacht at Ravenhill two weeks ago, with Darren Cave and Nevin Spence continuing their centre partnership.
Ireland internationals Stephen Ferris (knee), Paddy Wallace (thumb) and Andrew Trimble (thumb) remain unavailable for selection due to injury, as does BJ Botha (knee).
After a strong performance against Cardiff Blues last weekend, Steffan Jones will start at fullback for the Dragons.
“I’m delighted to be playing again for the region,” said Jones. “It’s just about being given an opportunity to prove yourself and obviously last week couldn’t have gone much better for me.
In a largely unchanged side, Pat Leach replaces centre Ashley Smith who is to be rested and Dan Way comes in for Ben Castle.
“Ashley could have made it this weekend but he has worked really hard all season and we wanted to look after him to make sure he’s ready for next season,” said Dragons head coach Darren Edwards. “We also wanted to take to opportunity to further expose Dan Way to Magners League rugby.”
All six final round Magners League games will kick off at same time so there are many permutations for the play-offs; only Munster are certain of a home semi-final on the weekend of 13/14th May.
Ulster require only a losing bonus point against the Dragons to ensure progression to the knock out stages. However a win for the Ulster, coupled with a Leinster defeat against Glasgow, would secure a home semi-final spot.
Dragons (v Ulster):S Jones, A Hughes, T Riley, P Leach, A Brew, J Tovey, W Evans; P Price, L Burns, D Way, L Charteris, A Jones, D Lydiate, G Thomas, T Faletau. Replacements: T Willis, H Gustafson, B Castle, A Coombs, J Bearman, M Watkins, J Evans, M Jones.
Ulster (v Dragons):A D'Arcy; C Gilroy, D Cave, N Spence, S Danielli; I Humphreys, R Pienaar; T Court, R Best (capt), D Fitzpatrick, J Muller, D Tuohy, P Wannenburg, C Henry, R Diack. Replacements: A Kyriacou, P McAllister, J Cronin, T Barker, T Anderson, P Marshall, I Whitten, C Gaston.
