Rugby:Ian Humphreys and BJ Botha have both been named in an initial 31-man squad ahead of Ulster's Heineken Cup quarter-final clash with Northampton on Sunday.
The pair both returned to action in the narrow 20-18 win against Scarlets last weekend and came through unscathed. Stephen Ferris continues to be sidelined with an ongoing knee problem and is main absentee in Brian McLaughlin’s squad.
Humphreys may not have been at his sharpest against the Scarlets but still went over for two tries, while Ruan Pienaar, who has been on excellent kicking duty in Humphreys’s absence, continues to be one of Ulster’s scoring outlets with the boot.
Ulster travel to Milton Keynes for Sunday’s 2pm kick-off, having reached the knockout stages for the first time since they won the competition in 1999.
Ulster come into the crunch fixture in good form after notching up six consecutive wins in the Magners League and are up to second in the standings, but their Premiership opponents also show good form with three wins on the spin and were unbeaten in the pool stages.
Should Ulster advance to the last four, they will face French opposition in the form of either Perpignan or Toulon with the prospect of a semi-final at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
McLaughlin will name his match day squad at noon on Friday.
Ulster squad
Forwards:Jerry Cronin, Declan Fitzpatrick, Tom Court, BJ Botha, Paddy McAllister, Bryan Young, Rory Best, Nigel Brady, Andi Kyriacou, Ryan Caldwell, Dan Tuohy, Johann Muller, Tim Barker, Pedrie Wannenburg, TJ Anderson, Willie Faloon, Chris Henry, Robbie Diack.
Backs:Ruan Pienaar, Paul Marshall, Ian Humphreys, Niall O'Connor, Ian Whitten, Nevin Spence, Paddy Wallace, Darren Cave, Andrew Trimble, Simon Danielli, Craig Gilroy, Jamie Smith, Adam D'Arcy.
