TEAM NEWS:SOUTH AFRICAN scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar could make a return to the Ulster squad despite being left out of the extended group of players selected by coach Brian McLaughlin yesterday.
Pienaar injured his hamstring at the beginning of this month, which ruled him out of the match against Connacht on November 5th and has not featured for Ulster since.
As well as missing RaboDirect Pro 12 league matches, the versatile back and top-ranked place-kicker was also absent for Ulster for their most recent Heineken Cup games against Clermont Auvergne in Belfast and Leicester Tigers in Welford Road.
“It’s a possibility Ruan could be brought in later in the week. He trained lightly today,” said an Ulster official.
Optimism surrounding the South African also extends to his All Black Ulster team-mate, John Afoa, who has returned to the province following a trip back to New Zealand and Samoa for the wedding of World Cup-winning backrow Jerome Kaino.
Prop Afoa, who was best man at the ceremony, arrived in Belfast on Sunday with his family and trained yesterday at the University of Ulster in Jordanstown.
McLaughlin has named a 33-man squad as Ulster face a depleted Scarlets team at Ravenhill on Friday (kick-off 7.05pm).
Wales play Australia on Saturday at the Millennium Stadium in what will be the final hurrah for one of the best players the country has produced, Ospreys’ Shane Williams.
Five Scarlets players, winger George North, outside centre Scott Williams and outhalf Rhys Priestland as well as bench men Matthew Rees and Tavis Knoyle, will also be involved in the match.
Stephen Ferris and Rory Best bring back international experience and form to the squad, having been rested against Glasgow last weekend as part of the IRFU’s player management scheme.
Chris Henry and Craig Gilroy, who were rested against Glasgow, are also likely to return to action on Friday. Paddy Wallace and Jared Payne are the principal casualties who are unavailable for McLaughlin.
Ulster have lost only once in their last 12 encounters at Ravenhill, while Scarlets have been one of the form teams in Europe and are undefeated in their last eight matches in all competitions since their 10-20 loss in Treviso on October 1st.
The Welsh side won 24-17 at Parc y Scarlets when they met in the PRO 12 at the end of October, but the Welshmen have not won in Ireland since a trip to Connacht on January 9th, 2009.
Neither Denis Leamy nor Donnacha Ryan, who were both unavailable for Munster last weekend, took a full part in Munster training yesterday but are expected to participate in a full session tomorrow.
As Munster practised in Limerick before facing Welsh side Ospreys on Saturday in a top-of-the-table clash at the Liberty Stadium, the two players were nursing hip (Leamy) and foot (Ryan) injuries.
Neither of them had been considered for last weekend’s clash with Edinburgh.
They are the only two expected changes either in or out of the squad for an Ospreys side missing Huw Bennett, Ian Evans, Ryan Bevington, Ryan Jones, Justin Tipuric and Dan Biggar.
Ospreys have lost just one game in the PRO 12 this season, 17-28 at Glasgow in round seven, and their only home defeat in the tournament in the last 12 months was 20-22 to Munster last April.
More immediately, earlier this season they ended Munster’s eight-game winning run against Welsh sides with a 13-17 victory at Thomond Park.
In Connacht injury has forced centre Keith Matthews into premature retirement after the 29-year-old centre ruptured his Achilles tendon during the captain’s run before Connacht’s clash against the Cardiff Blues in April. The career-ending blow came just 13 days after he had earned his 100th cap.
The former Ireland Under-21 player started off his professional life on a development contract with Munster before joining Connacht after college when the then coach Michael Bradley offered him a position.
“I jumped at the opportunity to play regularly,” said Matthews, who spent seven years in Galway.
He hasn’t yet decided what to do with his computer engineering degree from the University of Limerick and QFA (qualified financial adviser) exams but has said that the coaching world holds an attraction.
“I’ve always enjoyed coaching as well so no matter what I do I’m sure I’ll end up coaching at some level,” he said. “I have completed the level-two assistant course and have been involved with Monivea for the last couple of years.
“Even though I’ve taken a step back since my injury I still follow them very closely.”
“It’s heartbreaking being told your rugby career is over but I’ve had a little bit of time to get my head around it and though it’s a bit daunting thinking of a life without rugby in it, as one chapter closes another opens.”
PROVISIONAL ULSTER SQUAD (v Scarlets) – Forwards: P McAllister, C Black, T Court, A Macklin, J Afoa, D Fitzpatrick, J Cronin, A Kyriacou, N Brady, R Best, L Stevenson, J Muller (capt), D Tuohy, T Barker, N McComb, S Ferris, M McComish, P Wannenburg, W Faloon, C Henry, R Diack. Backs: P Marshall, I Porter, I Humphreys, P Jackson, N Spence, L Marshall, I Whitten, D Cave, C Gilroy, S Danielli, A Trimble, A D'Arcy.
