McCall calls up Topping

Rugby News round-up: Ulster coach Mark McCall has made two alterations to the team beaten by Connacht for Saturday's Celtic League game against the Glasgow Warriors at Ravenhill. The scan on left wing Paul Steinmetz's knee showed no lasting damage but the joint is still sore and he has been ruled out of this match.

Former Ireland international James Topping will take the New Zealander's place while Jonathan Bell is added to the replacements. Up front Bryan Young is preferred to Justin Fitzpatrick who drops to the bench.

Secondrow Matt McCullough, who missed the Connacht defeat, also received the all-clear following a scan but has not been risked for this game. Rowan Frost will once again partner Justin Harrison.

Leinster coach Michael Cheika has named an extended Leinster squad of 28 players, as is his wont at this stage of the week, with the team and replacements unlikely to be confirmed before tomorrow. Brian O'Driscoll has been named, as has wing Rob Kearney who missed the weekend win over Munster with a back strain.

Despite Leinster's success the video threw up plenty of areas in which Cheika would like to see his charges improve. "(There's) still a lot of technical mistakes that we need to improve on. Probably the most pleasing thing was our hunger to get involved in the game in all areas.

"The understanding that when we went down to the 14 men twice, that we needed to work a little bit harder (was pleasing). Everyone took on that role, probably to a bit of an extreme, where we over-committed a little bit and got very narrow in our game.

"(When) you lose a man, you don't just want to shut down shop. You can keep attacking and keep playing. The positive was that everyone took on that urgency in trying to fill the hole when we went a man down and continued to attack and stay on the front foot. We've done a fair bit of work on our mauling play in both defence and attack. It seems to be coming out a bit better every week."

Leinster's occasional tendency to concede too many penalties is not an issue which unduly concerns Cheika. .

"I don't feel the team is ill-disciplined. We have had a bit of a fluctuation this year. We've had blocks of games where we have been very good, below double-digit penalties. Then we have had some games when we have been blown out. We just have to get a bit more of a balance."

Nor does he feel the need to window dress the extent of the challenge on Saturday in west Wales. "Llanelli are probably the strongest Welsh province at this stage. They've got a lot of immediate threats both in the pack and out wide. What they do have is that they possess a lot of pace, which is always dangerous in rugby."

Cheika intimated he favours consistency in his team selection and wasn't considering resting anyone for the Llanelli match when the team is announced tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Gavin Henson's appeal against the ban he received for elbowing Leicester prop Alejandro Moreno will be heard by an independent committee on January 10th.

Henson, the Ospreys and Wales centre, was found guilty of striking Moreno in Leicester's 17-15 Heineken European Cup victory on December 18th and suspended for 10 weeks and two days.

The Ospreys, urged on by Wales coach Mike Ruddock, lodged an official appeal on Tuesday hoping for a reduction in the length of the ban, which effectively rules him out of Wales' Six Nations defence. However, if the appeal fails Henson could be saddled with an extension to his spell on the sidelines.

The appeal committee will be chaired by Brian McLoughlin of the IRFU and will also comprise Philip Orr from Ireland and Mike Hamilton from England.

ULSTER: B Cunningham; T Bowe, K Maggs, A Trimble, J Topping; D Humphreys, K Campbell; B Young, R Best, S Best (capt), J Harrison, R Frost, N Best, N McMillan, R Wilson. Replacements: N Brady, J Fitzpatrick, R Caldwell, S Ferris, I Boss, A Larkin, J Bell.

LEINSTER SQUAD: R McCormack, R Corrigan, D Blaney, B Blaney, W Green, E Byrne, A Byrnes, B Williams, B Gissing, M O'Kelly, C Jowitt, N Ronan, K Gleeson, E Miller, J Heaslip, B O'Riordan, G Easterby, J Hepworth, F Contepomi, D Hickie, G Brown, R Kearney, S Horgan, G D'Arcy, K Lewis, B O'Driscoll, E Hickey, G Dempsey.