An away win has eluded Ulster since April, so picking up four league points in Newport would give the province a timely boost ahead of next Saturday’s Champions Cup trip to France to face Oyonnax.
GUINNESS PRO12: Sunday, November 8
NEWPORT GWENT DRAGONS (9th) v ULSTER (7th), Rodney Parade, 2.30pm (live BBC 2 Northern Ireland/S4C)
Team News: Rory Best and Ruan Pienaar return to the Ulster squad to face the Newport Gwent Dragons in the GUINNESS PRO12 at Rodney Parade.
Newly-arrived director of rugby Les Kiss has made seven personnel changes to the team that lost narrowly to Munster last weekend.
Peter Nelson continues at full-back and is joined in the back-three by Sam Arnold and Rory Scholes, who replaces an injured Andrew Trimble. Paul Marshall and Stuart McCloskey are retained at scrum half and inside centre respectively.
Up front, Kyle McCall comes into the team to replace Andrew Warwick at loosehead prop, joining stand-in captain Rob Herring and Wiehahn Herbst in the front row.
Dan Tuohy links up with Franco van der Merwe in the second row, with number 8 Stephen Mulholland, who makes his first start for Ulster, named alongside Chris Henry and Robbie Diack in an all-new back row combination.
Ireland international Diack returns to the starting line-up having recovered from a muscle tear in his thigh sustained against Benetton Treviso in early October.
Ulster’s regular skipper Rory Best will play his first game for the province since May when he comes off the bench. He is named alongside front row reserves Ricky Lutton and Bronson Ross. Lewis Stevenson and Sean Reidy will provide further cover for the forwards and Ruan Pienaar, a Rugby World Cup semi-finalist with South Africa, is one of the back-line options along with Ian Humphreys and top try scorer Craig Gilroy.
Meanwhile, 20-year-old flanker Ollie Griffiths, who has 10 appearances under his belt for the Dragons, will make his first PRO12 start for the Welsh side in front of a home crowd.
The Wales Under-20 star, who was named Newport RFC captain last season, is one of five personnel changes that have been made to the team that lost 25-15 to the Scarlets last weekend.
Full-back Carl Meyer gets the nod and joins the back-three alongside wingers Ashton Hewitt and Nick Scott. The centre pairing remains unchanged for the third week running as Adam Hughes and Adam Warren retain their places.
The 23-year-old Dorian Jones will fill the out-half berth and is joined at half-back by South African Sarel Pretorius, the scorer of three tries in the current league campaign.
The front row sees one change made to it as tighthead prop Shaun Knight links up with loosehead Boris Stankovich and hooker Elliot Dee. The second row also has one change made to it with Cory Hill partnering skipper Rynard Landman. The back row includes PRO12 newcomer Griffiths who will combine with Ed Jackson and Taulupe Faletau.
The replacements bench has six changes made to it as Brok Harris, Matthew Screech, Lewis Evans, Charlie Davies, Jason Tovey and Ross Wardle feature alongside Rhys Buckley and Phil Price.
NEWPORT GWENT DRAGONS: Carl Meyer; Ashton Hewitt, Adam Hughes, Adam Warren, Nick Scott; Dorian Jones, Sarel Pretorius; Boris Stankovich, Elliot Dee, Shaun Knight, Cory Hill, Rynard Landman (capt), Ed Jackson, Ollie Griffiths, Taulupe Faletau.
Replacements: Rhys Buckley, Phil Price, Brok Harris, Matthew Screech, Lewis Evans, Charlie Davies, Jason Tovey, Ross Wardle.
ULSTER: Peter Nelson; Rory Scholes, Darren Cave, Stuart McCloskey, Sam Arnold; Paddy Jackson, Paul Marshall; Kyle McCall, Rob Herring (capt), Wiehahn Herbst, Dan Tuohy, Franco van der Merwe, Robbie Diack, Chris Henry, Stephen Mulholland.
Replacements: Rory Best, Ricky Lutton, Bronson Ross, Lewis Stevenson, Sean Reidy, Ruan Pienaar, Ian Humphreys, Craig Gilroy.
Referee: Dudley Phillips (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: Sean Brickell, Simon Rees (both Wales
Television Match Official: Paul Adams (Wales)
Match Odds (Paddy Power): Newport Gwent Dragons to win: 23/10; Draw: 17/1; Ulster to win: 4/11
Pre-Match Quotes: Chris Henry (Ulster) – “The Dragons have had a similar run of form to us. Their defence is particularly strong, they make teams work really hard, put them under pressure and frustrate players. They tackle and bounce out of rucks and are a solid line constantly.
“We will have to come up with a few ideas to get through their line of defence but away from home and in a place like Rodney Parade you are talking about set piece, maul, defence and not giving away penalties. I think if we can get that right and our game picks up, we can give any team a rattle away from home.
“Faletau is obviously one of their danger-men, so we need to start well, Cudd as well, in the breakdown, is dangerous. I think most of these games come down to the breakdown and I think that was something that was better for us last weekend. I think our ball carrying and ruck speed was so quick that ‘Marshy’ was struggling at times to get there, so that’s a strength for us.
“Last weekend we let three points go. Sitting here this week with four tries and a win against Munster would have made us more confident going away this weekend. We have made it slightly harder for ourselves, but there is no reason why we can’t go away and put in a great game against Dragons and get a crucial four points.”
Lyn Jones (Newport Gwent Dragons) – “We played some attractive rugby last season and the season before, but so far we haven’t been able to get the ball through three pairs of hands.
“That’s something very much in our mind because if we are to be successful then we have to score at least 25 points. You are not going to do that by holding onto the ball all the time, the game has to have some width.
“It’s something we are aware of and something we are working towards improving – if we are going to beat Ulster we have got to play. We didn’t kick smartly or chase well against the Scarlets and lost the kicking battle. Only one kick ended on a positive note for us.
“Ulster are the team in the league who kick the most and will drag the game into a kicking duel. We cannot afford to play rugby on the tail-end of a really good kick. We have to play on the front foot when circumstances arise and need to be patient in the kicking battle.”
Top Scorers – 2015/16 GUINNESS PRO12: Newport Gwent Dragons – Points: Jason Tovey 55; Tries: Sarel Pretorius 3; Ulster – Points: Stuart McCloskey 29; Tries: Craig Gilroy 4
RECENT LEAGUE MEETINGS:
Friday, October 26, 2012 – Newport Gwent Dragons 19 Ulster 46, Rodney Parade
Friday, April 12, 2013 – Ulster 31 Newport Gwent Dragons 5, Ravenhill
Friday, September 6, 2013 – Newport Gwent Dragons 15 Ulster 8, Rodney Parade
Friday, February 28, 2014 – Ulster 38 Newport Gwent Dragons 8, Ravenhill
Saturday, November 1, 2014 – Ulster 23 Newport Gwent Dragons 6, Kingspan Stadium
Saturday, March 8, 2015 – Newport Gwent Dragons 26 Ulster 22, Rodney Parade
MATCH FACTS:
– All of the Newport Gwent Dragons’ six matches in the GUINNESS PRO12 this season have been won by the home side
– The men of Gwent have won their last five PRO12 encounters at Rodney Parade since Connacht beat them there in February
– Ulster’s six PRO12 games to date have likewise gone with home field advantage. The Ulstermen have not been victorious away from home since a trip to Connacht in April
– The most recent occasion that an away side has won a fixture between these two teams came when Ulster visited Rodney Parade in October 2012
– Since 2006 the Ulstermen have won on two of their eight visits to the Newport venue
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