...Ulster and Ireland winger Andrew Trimble...

Ulster coach Mark McCall has made two changes to the side that drew with Leinster for Saturday's crucial Heineken Cup trip to London Irish - Ireland stars Tommy Bowe and Andrew Trimble have both earned recalls.

Bowe has been sidelined since damaging his hamstring early on in Ulster's famous Pool 5 defeat of Toulouse back in October, while Trimble picked up a hamstring injury in Ireland's Autumn Series win over South Africa last month.

The pair, who have scored six Heineken Cup tries between them, are vital to the Ulster cause and return at just the right time with the province needing back-to-back wins over 'Irish, over the next two weekends, to keep their quarter-final qualification hopes alive.

The 22-year-old Bowe comes in on the right wing with Trimble, the younger of the two by eight months, set for duty on the left flank.

Paul McKenzie and Scott Young are the players to lose out in the reshuffle, with Australian international Mark Bartholomeusz listed amongst the replacements after he filled the number 14 jersey against Leinster.

With newly-capped Ireland flanker Stephen Ferris recovering from a minor operation on his hand, Kieron Dawson, the former London Irish stalwart, retains the openside position with Neil McMillan, who lined out for Ballymena in the AIB League last weekend, the back row cover on the bench.

Saturday's fixture (Madejski Stadium, kick-off 3.30pm) is the first ever European meeting between the sides, although they did play a pre-season friendly at Ravenhill in August of last year with the Guinness Premiership outfit triumphing 17-9.

ULSTER: Bryn Cunningham; Tommy Bowe, Paul Steinmetz, Paddy Wallace, Andrew Trimble; David Humphreys, Isaac Boss; Bryan Young, Rory Best, Simon Best (capt), Justin Harrison, Matt McCullough, Neil Best, Kieron Dawson, Roger Wilson.

Replacements: Paul Shields, Justin Fitzpatrick, Tim Barker, Neil McMillan, Kieran Campbell, Kevin Maggs, Mark Bartholomeusz.