Kidney keeps a watching brief

Ireland's assistant coach Declan Kidney is expected to be among the attendance tonight and of particular interest will be the form of two national squad members, Ulster tighthead Simon Best and second row Gary Longwell.

The Ireland squad for the World Cup in Australia will be announced the day after the national side take on Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday, September 6th. Increasingly limited opportunities to showcase form guarantee the relevant players must grasp every opportunity.

Ulster coach Alan Solomons has used this match to look at young players including wings Seamus Mallon and Andy Maxwell, new recruit Ronan McCormack and promising number eight Roger Wilson, a former Ireland under-21 international.

Kieron Campbell is given a start at scrumhalf in the absence of the injured Neil Doak, and renews a partnership with outhalf Paddy Wallace that helped guide Ireland to their Under-19 World Cup success in 1998.

Included on the bench are New Zealander Matt Mustchin, Reece Spee and the Ireland under-21 full back Tommy Bowe.

Orrell include the former Terenure College, Leinster and Ireland under-21 prop Stephen Barretto at tighthead and former Welsh international Steve Moore. Among the replacements is David Slemen, a son of the former England wing, Mike.

The visitors should not prove too much of an obstacle to an Ulster squad that spent a week in South Africa in preparation for the forthcoming season.

ULSTER: B Cunningham; S Mallon, R Constable, S Stewart, A Maxwell; P Wallace, K Campbell; R McCormack, P Shields, S Best, M McCullough, G Longwell, T McWhirter, R Wilson, A Ward (capt). Replacements: M Sexton, C Boyd, M Mustchin, N Best, R Spee, T Bowe, S Young.

ORRELL: S Barrow; R Welding, R Penney, W Kelly, L Hinton; M Jones, G Cattle; S Emms, N McCarthy, S Barretto, S Moore, A Jackson, A Bennett, N Easter, B Lewitt. Replacements: S Haughton, D Slemen, S So'oialo, R Wilks, A Too'ala, C Bentley, A Livesey.

Ulster v Orrell

Ravenhill (7.30)