Ulster Without Humphreys

Ulster will be without the influential David Humphreys when they travel to Hughenden to tackle Glasgow Rugby in the Celtic Cup semi-finals.

The fly half played in the World Cup quarter-finals against France yesterday and will take a compulsory two-week rest.

David is a key player in the Ulster set-up but, with the Irish management ruling that any player who took an active part in the World Cup quarter-finals be out for the next 14 days, David is not eligible for the Celtic Cup semi-final, said coach n Solomons.

The problem regarding our other World Cup players is that they have not been on a rugby pitch for two months – Simon Best did have a 10-minute cameo appearance but Paddy Wallace, Neil Doak and Gary Longwell have had absolutely no rugby whatsoever.

And Tyrone Howe, who has played such a valuable role for us in the Celtic tournaments, is going to be suffering from jet fatigue and jet lag after flying over to Australia to provide wing cover last weekend and then flying straight back home again.

It does disadvantage us but we will just get on with it and face up to the challenge. We will be counting on the players who have got us this far to take us to the next stage.

Glasgow Rugby are very physical and always do well at Hughenden. It is always tough playing away and, with the conditions deteriorating, that is likely to make it even tougher.

We made it through to the semi-finals of the first two seasons of the Celtic League and now we really would like to take that extra step and make it through to the Celtic Cup final.