Ulster will be looking to make home advantage count against the Scarlets, a team who came away with the spoils (21-20) when they last visited Kingspan Stadium seven months ago.
GUINNESS PRO12: Friday, September 16
ULSTER (3rd) v SCARLETS (10th), Kingspan Stadium, 7.05pm (live BBC 2 Northern Ireland/BBC 2 Wales)
Team News: Rob Herring will make his 100th appearance for Ulster on Friday night as Les Kiss welcomes back some big names to his squad for the visit of the Scarlets to Kingspan Stadium.
Herring, who joined the province four years ago and is now sharing the club captaincy with Andrew Trimble, will be joined in the matchday panel by returning Ireland internationals Craig Gilroy, Iain Henderson and Paddy Jackson, along with All Black Charles Piutau.
Tickets for the game are still available via ulsterrugby.com/buytickets and can be bought on the gate from 5.30pm tonight.
There are eight new faces in the starting line-up with Callum Black, Peter Browne, Alan O’Connor and Robbie Diack bolstering the pack, while Gilroy, Jackson, Piutau and Stuart McCloskey join an already potent back-line.
Herring, a try scorer in each of Ulster’s last three games, will be joined in the front row by Black and Rodney Ah You (pictured below). Browne and O’Connor form a new second row partnership, with flankers Clive Ross and Sean Reidy retaining their places and Diack packing down at number 8.
Jackson will combine with Ruan Pienaar at half-back, while McCloskey and Stuart Olding are named in midfield. Louis Ludik switches from full-back to the left wing, with Gilroy and Piutau completing the selection.
Andrew Warwick could earn his 50th Ulster cap after being named among the replacements. Henderson will be a robust option for Kiss to spring from the bench, with John Andrew, Hughes Insurance Academy prop Ross Kane and Franco van der Merwe listed as the other forward replacements.
Angus Lloyd is still in line to make his first competitive appearance after being an unused replacement last week in Treviso. Luke Marshall and Robert Lyttle are the other back-line players in the 23-man squad.
Meanwhile, Scarlets head coach Wayne Pivac has made changes to the team that suffered a 20-9 defeat to Edinburgh at BT Murrayfield last week as he hopes to see his side claim a first scalp of the new season.
In the back-line Hadleigh Parkes comes in to partner Jonathan Davies in midfield, while Liam Williams moves to the right wing with Aled Thomas coming in at full-back.
The front five remains unchanged from last week’s starting line-up, but flanker Lewis Rawlins returns to the side after missing out last week due to illness. He links up with James Davies and John Barclay in the back row.
ULSTER: Charles Piutau; Craig Gilroy, Stuart Olding, Stuart McCloskey, Louis Ludik; Paddy Jackson, Ruan Pienaar; Callum Black, Rob Herring (capt), Rodney Ah You, Peter Browne, Alan O’Connor, Clive Ross, Sean Reidy, Robbie Diack.
Replacements: John Andrew, Andrew Warwick, Ross Kane, Franco van der Merwe, Iain Henderson, Angus Lloyd, Luke Marshall, Robert Lyttle.
SCARLETS: Aled Thomas; Liam Williams, Jonathan Davies, Hadleigh Parkes, Steff Evans; Rhys Patchell, Gareth Davies; Wyn Jones, Ken Owens (capt), Werner Kruger, Jake Ball, David Bulbring, Lewis Rawlins, James Davies, John Barclay.
Replacements: Ryan Elias, Luke Garrett, Peter Edwards, Tadhg Beirne, Will Boyde, Aled Davies, Scott Williams, Steff Hughes.
Referee: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
Assistant Referees: Cammy Rudkin (Scotland), Shane Kierans (Ireland)
Television Match Official: Charles Samson (Scotland)
Match Odds (Paddy Power): Ulster to win: 3/10; Draw: 20/1; Scarlets to win: 13/5
Pre-Match Quotes: Rodney Ah You (Ulster) – “I’m very much looking forward to it. Having played the pre-season game against Northampton, I’ve been looking forward to getting back out here (at Kingspan Stadium) since.
“It was unbelievable to play here at home. It was really frustrating, the first home game against Newport, I just had a knock on the head, but I feel fine now.
“Two (defeats) from two now so the Scarlets will be excited to come and try put that right and get a win over us. (Rhys) Patchell and (Gareth) Davies, they’ve brought in some quality players and there’s so much speed in their back-three.
“We’ve seen how heavy their pack is so we’re going to have to hold onto our ball and sort of try and shut down their forwards. I’m looking forward to it.”
Wayne Pivac (Scarlets) – “It doesn’t get any easier but we take confidence from the fact that we had a great performance over there (in Belfast) last year so we know within the group of players we have here that it can be done. Having said that it’s a new season, things change and that victory doesn’t really count for too much.
“It’s definitely going to be a tough challenge. We had to play our best game over there last year to get the win. We threw the kitchen sink at each other and it was a great victory for us.”
Top Scorers – 2016/17 GUINNESS PRO12: Ulster – Points: Ruan Pienaar 21; Tries: Rob Herring, Ruan Pienaar, Robert Lyttle 2 each; Scarlets – Points: Rhys Patchell 17; Tries: Gareth Davies 1
2016/17 TEAM FORM: Ulster – Played 2, Won 2, 9 Points; W 29-8 v Newport Gwent Dragons (home), W 22-11 v Benetton Treviso (away); Scarlets – Played 2, Lost 2, 0 Points; L 23-13 v Munster (home), L 20-9 v Edinburgh (away)
RECENT LEAGUE MEETINGS:
Saturday, November 2, 2013 – Scarlets 17 Ulster 9, Parc y Scarlets
Friday, March 14, 2014 – Ulster 26 Scarlets 13, Ravenhill
Saturday, September 6, 2014 – Scarlets 32 Ulster 32, Parc y Scarlets
Friday, February 27, 2015 – Ulster 25 Scarlets 20, Kingspan Stadium
Saturday, September 12, 2015 – Scarlets 12 Ulster 22, Parc y Scarlets
Sunday, February 21, 2016 – Ulster 20 Scarlets 21, Kingspan Stadium
MATCH FACTS:
– Ulster’s only defeat in their last seven GUINNESS PRO12 matches was to Leinster at the RDS in last season’s semi-final
– The last time the Ulstermen started a PRO12 campaign with three straight victories was in the 2012/13 season where they did not lose their first match until round 12
– Ulster have lost just once at Kingspan Stadium since early January: 21-20 to the Scarlets on February 21
– The Scarlets have won only one of their last six PRO12 fixtures, against the Newport Gwent Dragons on ‘Judgement Day’ in April
– The Scarlets’ only victory in their last twelve visits to an Irish province in any competition was in Belfast in February
– The Scarlets won both matches against Ulster in the PRO12 last season but have never won three in a row against the province
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