New Ulster Coach Matt Williams has named his first side to take on the Dragons at Ravenhill on Friday night. The side is boosted with the inclusion of dynamic back rower Stephen Ferris who has been sidelined with a knee injury since early on in the season. Williams is delighted with Stephen’s progress. Stephen has trained superbly and it is great to have him in the side?

With a break in the Six Nations this weekend Ulster welcome back three Internationals into the starting line up. Simon Danielli has been released by Scotland and he partners Mark McCrea on the wing, while Ireland released Tommy Bowe who moves into the centre alongside former All Black Paul Steinmetz. Neil Best is back for Ulster having trained with the squad earlier in the week and Williams was pleased at being able to include the international players in his selection: “The guys were really keen to come back and wanted to be involved. A couple of players, Neil Best and Tommy Bowe, spent a couple of hours with us on Monday morning and then had to shoot down to Dublin and come back up on Tuesday. It is pretty disruptive for the players but their efforts were fantastic”

With David Humphreys ruled out through injury young Ulster fly half Niall O’Connor starts for his province and is looking forward to the game: “I am delighted to be involved and get another start and I am really looking forward to the game and hopefully a good performance”

Tickets are still available for the game and can be purchased from Ravenhill or from the Ulster Rugby ticket line on 028 9049 3222 (select option 2) or online at http://www.ulsterrugby.com/ anytime.

Tickets can also be bought from various ticket outlet shops across the province listed : In Sport – Newtownards; S S Moore’s – Belfast; Athletic Stores – Belfast; Eden Park – Belfast; Euro Sport – Lisburn; Shoe Fair Sports -Banbridge; Style N Sport – Ballymena; Vi-Sport – Belfast; David Gotto All Sports – Belfast; Overplay Sports – Carrickfergus ;Douglas & Grahame Ltd – Belfast

Park and Ride will be available for the fixture as usual from Pirrie Park and Montgomery Road operating from an hour and a half before and after full time.

Ulster Team

Ulster Team: (15-9) M Bartholomeusz; M McCrea, T Bowe, P Steinmetz, S Danielli; N O’Connor, I Boss(Capt); (1-8) B Young, N Brady, D Fitzpatrick, R Caldwell, J Harrison, N Best, K Dawson, S Ferris

Replacements: (16-22) R Best, J Fitzpatrick, C Del Fava, M McCullough, P Marshall, P Wallace, B Cunningham