Celtic League Preview Ulster v Connacht Ravenhill, 7.10Following Isaac Boss's whirlwind debut last week on the Ulster A team, Mark McCall has been sufficiently impressed to put him straight on to the bench as scrumhalf replacement tonight. No doubt he will feature to give McCall a look at him in action at the higher level.
Otherwise the Ulster coach has largely stuck with the side that lost to Leinster at Donnybrook last Saturday with Bryn Cunningham coming back in at fullback having recovered from a shoulder injury. That move pushes Paddy Wallace, who nicked a soft try from Denis Hickie early in last week's match, on to the replacements bench.
Expectations abroad are Ulster will resume their winning ways. The 23-30 loss to Leinster at Donnybrook ended a three-match winning streak, but that distorts Ulster's true form and at Ravenhill the White Knights have won their last nine games in all competitions since Munster won 24-3 there last November.
Michael Bradley welcomes back Paul Warwick at outhalf while Christian Short is also named at lock instead of Michael Gallagher, but Bradley understands that tradition stands against his hopes of an away win.
Connacht are on an unwelcome run of four straight defeats since their opening weekend victory over Cardiff Blues at the Sportsground and have not won away from home since a 16-13 victory over Edinburgh at Murrayfield on March 4th. This does not engender much confidence in their chances of breaking the run at Ravenhill, one of the toughest grounds in Europe to visit.
Connacht's only win in their last 10 clashes with Ulster was the 31-20 victory in the Celtic League in Galway in November 2003, while they haven't won in Belfast for almost 45 years.
November 1960 was the last time the visitors had cause for a victory celebration on the train back to Galway, losing in 23 subsequent visits to Ravenhill.
Once more Andrew Trimble, who was eye-catching going forward against Leinster last week, plays at inside centre with Tommy Bowe and James Topping on the wings.
Again McCall will look to his pack and mobile backrow to provide quality ball. Blindside flanker Neil Best, openside Neil McMillan and Roger Wilson at number eight, along with Justin Harrison and Matt McCullough in the secondrow, have been dominant in most games.
Connacht, with the experience of Colm Rigney in the backrow and captain Andrew Farley at lock, will know what's expected. But Ulster are not about to let Leinster's win knock them out of their stride and Bradley knows it.
"If you turn over ball, they will score. Every mistake is a seven pointer," said the coach after last week's game.
Nothing has changed in the interim.
ULSTER: B Cunningham; T Bowe, K Maggs, A Trimble, J Topping; D Humphreys, K Campbell; J Fitzpatrick, R Best, S Best (capt), J Harrison, M McCullough, N Best, N McMillan, R Wilson. Replacements: P Shields, B Young, R Frost, C Feather, I Boss, P Wallace, T Howe
CONNACHT: M Mostyn; K Matthews, D Yapp, J Downey, C McPhillips; P Warwick, C Keane; R Hogan, R Fogarty, S Knoop, C Short, A Farley (capt), J Muldoon, M Lacey, C Rigney. Replacements: J Merrigan, D McFarland, M Swift, B O'Connor, C O'Loughlin, J Hearty, T Robinson
Referee: Alain Rolland (IRFU).
