Ireland Trio Return To Start For Ulster

Richie Murphy’s matchday selection has long-serving scrum half David Shanahan in line for a milestone 100th appearance in an Ulster jersey, as a replacement.

There are six personnel changes to the Ulster team that lost 49-31 away to the Lions last time out. In a positional switch, Tom Stewart reverts to his regular hooker position, fresh from captaining the Ireland XV to victory over Spain.

Along with the returning Henderson and Timoney up front, Scott Wilson gets the nod at tighthead prop, and South African powerhouse Juarno Augustus has recovered from an arm injury to feature at number 8.

Irish-qualified loosehead Sam Crean will make his fourth successive start, while Harry Sheridan and David McCann, who was involved in that Ireland XV fixture too, complete Ulster’s starting forwards.

Jack Murphy and Nathan Doak continue together at half-back, with the latter the URC’s second top points scorer with 41 points after the opening five rounds.

The Ulstermen will field two of the Ireland XV’s recent try scorers against Spain in their back-line. Jude Postlethwaite teams up again with Jame Hume in the centre, and Robert Baloucoune will line out on the right wing.

Baloucoune has been in terrific try-scoring form of late, grabbing a hat-trick against the Lions and a brace in that fixture against Spain. Werner Kok is on the opposite wing, with Stockdale replacing the injured Michael Lowry (ankle) at full-back.

Head coach Murphy has opted for a five-three split on the bench, with Rob Herring, Callum Reid, Tom O’Toole, Matthew Dalton, who crossed twice for Ulster ‘A’ against Connacht Eagles, and Bryn Ward the reserve forwards.

Academy back rower Ward (21) made his senior debut against the Lions in Johannesburg. Shanahan, meanwhile, is set to become the province’s latest centurion, with Jake Flannery and Stewart Moore completing the back-line cover.

Moore was recalled from his loan spell at Newcastle Red Bulls due to recent injuries within the Ulster senior squad. He scored a hat-trick on his Newcastle debut during their Premiership Rugby Cup win over Northampton Saints almost two weeks ago.

With his charges sitting in fifth place and itching to resume their URC run, Murphy said: “Normally you get five weeks and then there’s a break. We’ve made use of the time and it’s been good for us in that regard.

“Did we want a break when we got it? I’m not sure, but coming back from South Africa, it literally fits in really well to how we’ve got ourselves ready to go into this next block.

“We’ve worked really hard. We’ve put a lot of time into our game on both sides of the ball. We’ve done a little bit of extra work in and around that contact area.

“Look, if the ball goes on the ground a couple of times, it’s how you react and what you do off the back of that. We’re expecting to hit the ground running.”

He added: “The senior international guys came back in on Monday. They’re all busting their gut to get back out there. We’re in a good place at the moment.

“Two (Ireland) selections for Nick, ‘Hendy’ had one, and Jacob one. Good to see them out there, great to see four guys (including Stuart McCloskey who is out with a groin injury) in the squad.

“We’ve always said that if we can make this team more competitive and stronger, the more we do that, the more players will get into the national set-up, and that has to be our goal.”

ULSTER (v Benetton): Jacob Stockdale; Robert Baloucoune, James Hume, Jude Postlethwaite, Werner Kok; Jack Murphy, Nathan Doak; Sam Crean, Tom Stewart, Scott Wilson, Harry Sheridan, Iain Henderson (capt), David McCann, Nick Timoney, Juarno Augustus.

Replacements: Rob Herring, Callum Reid, Tom O’Toole, Matthew Dalton, Bryn Ward, David Shanahan, Jake Flannery, Stewart Moore.