Opening up a fascinating final round in Saturday’s early kick-off, Ulster must complete the double over Oyonnax – with a four-try bonus point to boot – in order to put pressure on their rivals for those coveted Champions Cup quarter-final spots.
EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS CUP – POOL 1: Saturday, January 23
ULSTER (2nd) v OYONNAX (4th), Kingspan Stadium, 1pm (live Sky Sports 5 HD/beIN Sports/BBC Radio Ulster MW/Newstalk/highlights TG4)
Team News: The Ulster team has been named for Saturday’s crucial European Champions Cup round 6 game against Oyonnax at Kingspan Stadium.
Darren Cave has recovered from a shoulder injury and will feature for the first time since the start of December, with Stuart McCloskey getting a well-earned rest after playing in all 16 of Ulster’s matches this season. Number 8 Nick Williams is also back in the fray.
New Ireland captain Rory Best has minor back tightness and has not been able to train fully this week, so he will start the game on the bench. That means that Rob Herring, who has been named in Ireland’s squad for rounds 1 and 2 of the RBS 6 Nations, will deputise as both hooker and captain.
Ruan Pienaar has been ruled out by illness while Wiehahn Herbst has a foot injury, so Paul Marshall and Ricky Lutton come into the side at scrum half and tighthead prop respectively.
Herring and Lutton are joined in the front row by Kyle McCall, with Alan O’Connor and Franco van der Merwe continuing in the engine room. Robbie Diack and Sean Reidy will again pack down either side of Williams in the back row.
Marshall is joined at half-back by Paddy Jackson, with Cave and Luke Marshall combining in midfield. The back-three consists of Andrew Trimble, Craig Gilroy and Jared Payne, who will make his first home appearance of the season for Ulster.
Best is joined on the bench by fellow forwards Callum Black, Bronson Ross, Clive Ross and Roger Wilson. Dave Shanahan, Ian Humphreys and Rory Scholes are the back-line replacements.
Meanwhile, Oyonnax boss Johann Authier has made 14 personnel changes from the club’s first ever Champions Cup triumph over Toulouse in the previous round.
Second row Geoffrey Fabbri is the only survivor from that four-try bonus point display, with the likes of captain Fabien Cibray, Meath man Eamonn Sheridan and powerful forwards Fabrice Metz and Maurie Fa’asavalu dropping to the bench.
Oyonnax only played Ulster two weeks ago in their rescheduled round 1 tie. In a thrilling comeback, Kiss’ charges came back from 23-0 down at half-time to record a famous 24-23 triumph. Ulster go into the final round with 13 match points, and a win here may not be enough as Clermont Auvergne, Northampton Saints and Stade Francais all have 14 points.
* The 2016 European Rugby Challenge Cup and Champions Cup finals featuring the cream of European professional club rugby will be staged in Lyon next May.
Both showpiece matches will be held at the brand new 59,000-capacity Grand Stade de Lyon with the Challenge Cup final going ahead on Friday, May 13 (9pm) and the Champions Cup scheduled for Saturday, May 14 (5.45pm).
Tickets for the finals are now on sale and with demand expected to be high for one of Europe’s most prestigious sporting weekends, fans are advised to purchase without delay. Purchase your ticket(s) online here.
ULSTER: Jared Payne; Andrew Trimble, Darren Cave, Luke Marshall, Craig Gilroy; Paddy Jackson, Paul Marshall; Kyle McCall, Rob Herring (capt), Ricky Lutton, Alan O’Connor, Franco van der Merwe, Robbie Diack, Sean Reidy, Nick Williams.
Replacements: Rory Best, Callum Black, Bronson Ross, Clive Ross, Roger Wilson, Dave Shanahan, Ian Humphreys, Rory Scholes.
OYONNAX: Florian Denos (capt); Daniel Ikpefan, Guillaume Bousses, Alaska Taufa, Dug Codjo; Rory Clegg, Julien Blanc; Soane Tonga’uiha, Thomas Bordes, Giorgi Vepkhvadze, Leon Power, Geoffrey Fabbri, Valentin Ursache, Pierrick Gunther, Pedrie Wannenburg.
Replacements: Jeremie Maurouard, Laurent Delboulbès, Horace Pungea, Fabrice Metz, Maurie Fa’asavalu, Fabien Cibray, Regis Lespinas, Eamonn Sheridan.
Referee: Marius Mitrea (Italy)
Assistant Referees: Matteo Liperini, Simone Boaretto (both Italy)
Television Match Official: Stefano Penne (Italy)
Match Odds (Paddy Power): Ulster to win: 1/100; Draw: 100/1; Oyonnax to win: 45/1
Pre-Match Quotes: Les Kiss (Ulster) – “It’s great to have Darren and Nick back in the team. We welcomed Jared back last week and that was pleasing for us too.
“With Rory on the bench, it’s another opportunity for Rob to show what a great player and what a great leader he is. Ruan has been struggling with illness all week so he is unavailable, but we know that Paul will come in and do a fantastic job for us.
“Oyonnax are a good team and they will provide a big challenge for us. We need to stay focused on our game, make our tackles, start the match with the right attitude and play with discipline because they can hurt you if you give the ball away easily. They showed that last week against Toulouse and against us a fortnight ago.
“We know our best chance of going through (to the quarter-finals) will be by earning a bonus point victory, so to give ourselves the best chance we need to play with accuracy and work hard for each other for 80 minutes.
“We’re optimistic that we can get the job done and with the unpredictability of this competition, there’s a real chance for us to go through. Hopefully there will be a good crowd at Kingspan and we can give them something to cheer about.”
Neil Doak (Ulster) – “We always knew it was going to come down to this game and we have to make sure we do our job and then hopefully a few results can go our way. If that happens then hopefully we’ve done our job and put pressure on some other teams.
“It’s key to still have interest going into the final round of the pool stages. The last Oyonnax game was disappointing as we wanted more from the game, but it’s exciting going into the final day and not knowing all of the permutations. It shows how difficult it is to get out of the pool.
“Oyonnax did well to finish in the top six (of the French Championship) last year and get into this competition. They won’t be happy with the way things have gone, but they’ve got a decent side on paper with some dangerous broken field runners.
“We played in decent weather the last week (against them) before the snow came in, so we picked the right weekend! But we have to make sure our basics are good, and we want to match what we did in the second half of our match when we played them out there.”
Current Form – Ulster – (GUINNESS PRO12): Won 28-6 at home to the Ospreys; Lost 22-12 away to the Scarlets; Won 48-7 at home to Benetton Treviso; Lost 16-10 away to Edinburgh; Won 24-17 at home to Cardiff Blues; Lost 32-28 away to Munster; Won 19-12 away to Newport Gwent Dragons; (European Champions Cup):Lost 27-9 at home to Saracens; (GUINNESS PRO12): Lost 8-3 away to Leinster; Won 14-7 at home to Edinburgh; (European Champions Cup): Won 38-0 at home to Toulouse; Won 25-23 away to Toulouse;(GUINNESS PRO12): Won 10-3 away to Connacht; Lost 9-7 at home to Munster; (European Champions Cup): Won 24-23 away to Oyonnax; Lost 33-17 away to Saracens
Oyonnax – (Top 14 Championship): Lost 35-19 away to Montpellier; Won 37-19 at home to Bordeaux-Begles; Lost 41-24 at home to Clermont Auvergne; Lost 35-26 away to Castres Olympique; Lost 18-9 at home to Racing 92; Lost 61-3 away to Toulon; Won 42-23 at home to Pau; Lost 38-3 away to La Rochelle; (European Champions Cup): Lost 24-18 away to Toulouse; (Top 14 Championship): Lost 34-9 at home to Brive; Lost 27-3 away to Toulouse; (European Champions Cup):Lost 45-10 at home to Saracens; Lost 55-13 away to Saracens; (Top 14 Championship): Won 25-12 at home to Stade Francais; Lost 42-17 away to Grenoble; (European Champions Cup): Lost 24-23 at home to Ulster; Won 32-14 at home to Toulouse
Top Scorers – 2015/16 European Champions Cup: Ulster – Points: Paddy Jackson 44; Tries: Luke Marshall 3; Oyonnax – Points: Nicky Robinson 22; Tries: Fabien Cibray, Uwa Tawalo 2 each
Previous European Meetings: 1
Saturday, January 10, 2016 – Pool 1 – Oyonnax 23 Ulster 24, Stade Charles Mathon
European Cup Records:
Ulster –
2014/15: Failed to qualify from Pool 3
2013/14: Reached the quarter-finals
2012/13: Reached the quarter-finals
2011/12: Runners-up
2010/11: Reached the quarter-finals
2009/10: Failed to qualify from Pool 4
2008/09: Failed to qualify from Pool 4
2007/08: Failed to qualify from Pool 2
2006/07: Failed to qualify from Pool 5
2005/06: Failed to qualify from Pool 4
2004/05: Failed to qualify from Pool 6
2003/04: Failed to qualify from Pool 1
2002/03: Failed to qualify from Pool 6
2001/02: Failed to qualify from Pool 2
2000/01: Failed to qualify from Pool 3
1999/00: Failed to qualify from Pool 3
1998/99: Champions
1997/98: Failed to qualify from Pool B
1996/97: Failed to qualify from Pool C
1995/96: Failed to qualify from Pool B
Oyonnax –
N/A
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