Ulster Rugby v Ospreys

NIGHT

a tight-head prop may be signed as cover next week for the two-match trip to South Africa, the longer-term prospects in the front row are, for once, reassuring. McGrath, Eric O’Sullivan, Kyle McCall and the resilient and versatile Andrew Warwick will all be ‘in the mix. Nick Timoney misses out tonight with a hand injury, and Marcel Coetzee’s latest ‘knock’ just as he was recalled by the Springboks means McFarland can deploy, if he chooses, the battle-hardened Sean Reidy, Clive Ross and Jordi Murphy with some of the excellent products from the Academy. Kieran Treadwell, the brothers Alan and David O’Connor are second-row options, while siblings Matty and Marcus Rea offered shafts of real, top-class light in the latter stages of last season. So, it’s certain that there’ll be an energy and a real urge to make an instant competitive stamp on the PRO14, but Ulster know the Welsh opposition will have similar aspirations and is a formidable obstacle on ‘opening night’. But a Kingspan Stadium crowd in full voice, an Ulster team readied for the long haul – that demands one, winning conclusion.

the World Cup, and the Ospreys have a large contingent with Wales, but you won’t hear complaints from McFarland or from Clarke. That their clubs supply Ireland and Wales respectively with the captaincy says something about the ethos in their camps, and the indomitable Rory Best and Alun Wyn Jones are models of application for Ulster and Ospreys generations to come. These coaches instinctively adapt to circumstances and will have full faith in the players who figure in this evening’s ‘opener’ under the Friday night lights. Their belief is certainly justified by the quality of their squads. Clarke himself has recruited well but the mainstay of his starting XV tonight is a core of familiar and decorated names. Flanker Dan Lydiate has had a storied career with Wales, and full-back Dan Evans possesses a wide range of skills, centres Scott Williams and Cory Allen and wingers Luke Morgan and Keelan Giles have all been prominent in the pre-season wins over Hartbury and then in Edinburgh last weekend. Ulster, like the opponents this evening, is a team fancied strongly, and with some conviction by the cognoscenti, to pose an effective threat to the recent dominance of Leinster, Glasgow and, fitfully, Munster. Billy Burns and the wonderfully-composed John Cooney have formed a reliable half- back pairing which has still to flourish fully, and the arrival of Johnston and the youthful challenge from Michael Lowry can only serve to ‘push’ performance. In midfield and at full-back the galaxy of talent on Ulster’s books is the envy of many in the competition: Luke Marshall, Stuart McCloskey, James Hume, Faddes and Louis Ludik are obvious candidates for consideration. Again, the queue to press claims is a long and impressive one. Rob Herring’s credentials at hooker are surely proven, and John Andrew’s athletic and powerful presence is growing. Though

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