Celtic League: Ulster coach Mark McCall has made four changes to his team for tomorrow night's Celtic League game against the Gwent Dragons at Rodney Parade. The Irish province enjoyed an outing last week against South Africa Super 12 side, The Bulls, a game they lost in atrocious weather conditions.
Contrary to earlier suggestions, Kevin Maggs has been cleared to play by the Ireland team management despite taking a full part in Ireland's victory at Murrayfield last weekend. He is the only member of the starting XV to be given clearance.
He is joined in the Ulster team by David Humphreys and Tommy Bowe, the latter a member of the Ireland under-21 team beaten by Scotland for the first time in the history of clashes at that level in Falkirk last Friday.
Matt McCullough is restored to the pack, in place of Rowan Frost, after recovering from a foot injury.
Meanwhile, Gwent Dragons welcome back hooker Steve Jones and second row Luke Charteris while they await a final medical report on scrumhalf Gareth Baber.
If he is unable to take his place then James Ireland will deputise. The Dragons will be hoping for a major improvement on their last outing when they were given a proper drubbing by Leinster at Lansdowne Road.
Captain and flanker James Forster admitted: "Ulster are a good side who, without reaching the success of last season, remain a threat. They will be buoyed by the return of DH (Humphreys) who orchestrates the game so well for the team and we will have to maintain our discipline for the entire match and not give way any penalties as he can kick goals from all areas of the pitch."
Meanwhile, the Llanelli Scarlets are preparing themselves for a battle royale against Connacht at Dubarry Park tomorrow night. Scarlets coach Nigel Davies is certain though that his team are capable of a win.
"This one game in isolation has halted us to a certain extent as ideally we would have wished to continue the winning momentum from Munster.
"But it has given us the opportunity to re-focus on other aspects of the game and we'll be looking to transport our preparation to performance. It will be a very physical battle, we've had close encounters with Connacht in the past.
"They're a well respected outfit who always perform well and efficiently and are very capable of snatching results. We know that we need to match them physically with a mental edge to return from Athlone with a win."
ULSTER (v Gwent Dragons): B Cunningham; T Bowe, P Steinmetz, K Maggs, T Howe; D Humphreys, K Campbell; S Best, R Best, R Moore, G Longwell, M McCullough, C Feather (capt), R Wilson, N Best. Replacements: P Shields, R McCormack, R Frost, G Pfister, R Spee, A Larkin, S Young/ S Stewart.
GWENT DRAGONS (v Ulster): P Montgomery; G Wyatt, N Brew, S Winn, B Breeze; C Warlow, G Baber/J Ireland; R Snow, S Jones, C Anthony, L Chateris, P Sidoli, J Ringer, R Oakley, J Forster (capt). Replacements: J Richards, A Black, R Thomas, M Veater, C Trayhern, S Tuipolutu, J Byrant.
LLANELLI SCARLETS (v Connacht): L Byrne; A Havili, M Watkins, S Finau, T Selley; G Bowen, M Phillips; P John, M Rees, J Davies, V Cooper, C Wyatt, J Mills, A Powell, G Thomas. Replacements: D Williams, A Gravelle, A Jones, I Boobyer, L Daies, A Thomas, M Taylor.
