Magners League:Despite the highly anticipated end-of-season duel between Ulster and Connacht descending into what is essentially a dead-rubber, Brian McLaughlin expects a tough test at Ravenhill on Friday (7.30pm).
Ulster’s win over Edinburgh last time out ended any hope Connacht had of leapfrogging their provincial rivals and qualifying for next season’s Heineken Cup, but the coach expects the visitors to produce a big effort on the occasion of his counterpart's final game in charge.
His own side, he insists, are keen too, if only to cheer the home support after a potentially disastrous season was narrowly averted.
"We will be looking for a win first and foremost, that is the most important thing for us. We want to build on our performance against Edinburgh and achieve back to back wins to end the season on a high,” said McLaughlin today.
"We have all talked about our disappointment this season, mainly that after the Bath game, we didn't kick-on and achieve what we are capable of. But, we did have a smashing performance last weekend and want a strong positive win at Ravenhill, on Friday, to end the season for both ourselves and our supporters.
"Connacht are coming here full of confidence and its Michael's (Bradley) last game, so they will also be chasing the win. It will be a really tough game of rugby.”
McLaughlin has made just two changes from the side that won in Scotland, with Chris Henry replacing the injured Stephen Ferris at blindside flanker and Ian Humphreys preferred to Niall O’Connor at outhalf.
For Connacht, Bradley has called Brian Tuohy to the right wing, while Ronan Loughney starts at loosehead, Bernie Upton returns in the secondrow and Mike McComish is named at openside flanker.
Ulster (v Connacht):J Smith; A Trimble, D Cave, I Whitten, S Danielli; I Humphreys, P Marshall; T Court, R Best (capt), BJ Botha; E O'Donoghue, D Tuohy; C Henry, W Faloon, R Diack. Replacements: A Kyriacou, B Young, R Caldwell, TJ Anderson, I Boss, N O'Connor, T Nagusa
Connacht (v Ulster):G Duffy; B Tuohy, N Ta'auso, A Wynne, F Carr; I Keatley, F Murphy; R Loughney, S Cronin, J Hagan; M McCarthy, B Upton; J Muldoon (capt), M McComish, G Naoupu. Replacements: A Flavin, R Morris, A Browne, J O'Connor, C O'Loughlin, M Nikora, T Nathan