Williams clears decks to turn his ship around

MAGNERS LEAGUE Ulster v Edinburgh:THIS ULSTER nightmare has managed to leap the summer months and continue from last season. Mark McCall's demons are now haunting Matt Williams and he goes into tonight's match against Edinburgh at Ravenhill Road without a win from the opening four games.

His hopes this week are pinned to a squad dramatically different from the one that took to Liberty Stadium against Ospreys last week and lost 43-0. A glimmer of positivity comes from captain Rory Best and backrow David Pollack, both back from injury, but Williams has made eight changes and two positional switches.

Ironically, the former Ireland flanker Kieron Dawson, whom Williams describes as Ulster's best player, is named on the bench, but Tom Court, Ed O'Donoghue, Stephen Ferris and Paul Steinmetz are promoted, while Darren Cave and Cillian Willis come in for Scottish international Rob Dewey and Paul Marshall, who have both been dropped from the squad.

Ian Humphreys, who moved back to Belfast from Leicester at the end of last season, continues to be overlooked, Niall O'Connor being preferred at 10.

Williams has had strong words to say to his players, though the 23 missed tackles in the first half of last week's collapse probably speak more eloquently than he ever could. Ulster's last win at Ravenhill was against Munster on April 30th.

"The team are looking forward to the game," said Williams. "We want to make amends for what happened in Swansea. We know our performance was below standard. The team are going through a hard time and need the Ulster supporters to get behind them and will them to a win.

"Andy Robinson is a world-class coach and their defence has improved enormously under his direction. They know our form has been poor of late and will be coming over here looking for a win."

Edinburgh are, however, also having a difficult time and are precariously perched third from the bottom, just above Ulster and Connacht. They beat the Scarlets two weeks ago but lost again last weekend, 11-9 to Dragons.

They have won only once in their last nine visits to Ireland but are looking to tonight's game to break that grim run.

Jim Thompson comes into their side at fullback for his first league start as Chris Paterson is ruled out with an ankle problem. The 23-year-old grandson of the celebrated rugby commentator Bill McLaren and son of the Channel 4 racing tipster Derek Thompson made his league debut last season against Leinster as a replacement.

David Blair makes his first start of the campaign in a halfback combination with his elder brother Mike, while Andrew Kelly comes in at hooker as the regular number two, Ross Ford, is among the replacements.

In the second row, the former Leinster player Ben Gissing returns to the starting line-up at the expense of Craig Hamilton, while on the bench Chris Fusaro, who is a member of the Scottish National Academy, could also make his league debut.

This is a battle for lower-order placings. Williams and Ulster are in desperate need of the victory, but the general lack of confidence is likely to mean yet another unavailing struggle tonight.

ULSTER:B Cunningham; C Schifcofske, D Cave, P Steinmetz, A Trimble; N O'Connor, C Willis; T Court, R Best (capt), BJ Botha, E O'Donoghue, R Caldwell, S Ferris, D Pollack, R Diack. Replacements: N Brady, J Fitzpatrick, C Del Fava, K Dawson/M McCullough, I Boss, I Humphreys, T Nagusa.

EDINBURGH:J Thompson; J Houston, H Southwell, N De Luca, M Robertson; D Blair, M Blair (capt); A Jacobsen, A Kelly, G Kerr, B Gissing, M Mustchin, A Hogg, S Newlands. Replacements: R Ford, G Cross, C Hamilton, C Fusaro, G Laidlaw, P Godman, C McRae.

Referee:C Damasco (Italy)

Verdict:Edinburgh win.