Steinmetz and Maxwell into the breach for Ulster

Paul Steinmetz replaces the injured Shane Stewart (knee) and will make his first Ulster start since breaking his leg last April, while Andrew Maxwell replaces James Topping who picked up an ankle injury in last weekend’s game against The Dragons.

Despite having 12 players unavailable for selection through injury and international status, McCall is upbeat; “We have quite a few players unavailable for selection this week, but we’ve still been able to name a very competitive starting XV which shows how far Ulster has come in the past few years. A lot of the players unavailable this week are expected to be ready to play again in the next couple of weeks so hopefully we’ll have some proper selection decisions to make soon.”

“We were all dissatisfied with the performance against The Dragons last Saturday. We’d had a very demanding training camp prior to our trip with a lot of travel which was hardly ideal preparation for a game, excuses aside though, we were still unhappy. However, we’ve trained well this week and the boys can’t wait to get to Murrayfield on Saturday.”

ULSTER: 15 – Bryn Cunningham; 14 – Tommy Bowe; 13 – Jonny Bell; 12 – Paul Steinmetz (Vice-Capt); 11 – Andrew Maxwell; 10 – Paddy Wallace; 9 – Neil Doak; 1 – Ronan McCormack; 2 – Paul Shields; 3 – Rod Moore; 4 – Matt Mustchin; 5 – Rowan Frost; 6 – Andy Ward (Capt); 7 – Neil Best; 8 – Campbell Feather

Replacements: 16 – Bryan Young; 17 – Nigel Brady; 18 – Gary Longwell; 19 – Gary Brown; 20 – Kieran Campbell; 21 – Seamus Mallon; 22 – Scott Young

Not Available for selection: Simon Best, Tyrone Howe, David Humphreys, Kevin Maggs, Reece Spee, James Topping, Adam Larkin, Shane Stewart, Neil McMillan, Tim Barker, Roger Wilson, Matt McCullough