Ulster Include D’Arcy, Brady And Faloon
Ulster head coach Brian McLaughlin has made three personnel changes and a positional switch to the starting line-up for Friday’s RaboDirect PRO12 match against the Newport Gwent Dragons at Rodney Parade (kick-off 7.05pm).
Jared Payne picked up a dead leg in the loss to the Ospreys last Sunday, so Adam D’Arcy is promoted from the replacements bench to fill the vacant full-back role.
Ian Humphreys (shoulder) and Darren Cave (hamstring) have not recovered from their injuries in time and will play no part in this fixture.
After starting all of Ulster’s games so far, Andi Kyriacou has been kept in reserve for the trip to Newport, with Nigel Brady taking over as starting hooker.
Willie Faloon has been named at openside flanker, so Chris Henry moves around to number 8 and Robbie Diack drops to the bench.
Academy prop Kyle McCall is in line for his senior debut after being included on the bench. Ian Porter also returns to the matchday squad, following a rib injury, and is joined by Conor Gaston who will provide cover for the back-three.
ULSTER (v Newport Gwent Dragons): Adam D’Arcy; Craig Gilroy, Darren Cave, Nevin Spence, Ian Whitten; Paddy Jackson, Paul Marshall; Declan Fitzpatrick, Nigel Brady, Jerry Cronin, Lewis Stevenson, Dan Tuohy, Pedrie Wannenburg, Willie Faloon, Chris Henry (capt).
Replacements: Andi Kyriacou, Kyle McCall, Adam Macklin, Tim Barker, Robbie Diack, Ian Porter, James McKinney, Conor Gaston.