POOL FOUR:PADDY WALLACE, BJ Botha and Timoci Nagusa come back into the extended Ulster squad for Saturday's return match against Stade Francais at King Baudouin Stadium Stadium in Brussels. The Irish outhalf and centre, Wallace, who picked up an ankle injury playing with Ireland against South Africa last month in Croke Park, is likely to force change in the Ulster centre pairing, when the team is whittled down to 22 players later in the week.
Ian Humphreys earned a man-of-the-match award for his controlling influence against Stade from outhalf last Saturday in Belfast and is certain to continue there as Ulster’s main kicker and play maker.
With Wallace back and looking for a starting place, coach Brian McLaughlin will have to make a difficult call at outside centre where Darren Cave started last week.
With winger Nagusa also back in the extended squad, McLaughlin’s decision is whether to play Andrew Trimble at outside centre with Wallace inside him, or leave Cave in situ. Trimble could also feature on the wing, where he played against Stade, with Nagusa on the bench.
Either way, it gives McLaughlin options after Ulster’s 23-13 win, although, the impulse not to tamper with a team that delivered so handsomely last weekend will be to the forefront of his mind.
Last week Trimble was originally left out of the Ulster squad until Nagusa injured himself in training. Trimble subsequently played an aggressive and effective role in the team’s win over the French giants.
BJ Botha, who was also injured during the South African tour, has been named. Prop Botha, like Wallace and Nagusa, was rehabilitating last week and was not in the Ulster squad that played in the first leg. Stephen Ferris is also named in the squad. The Irish flanker, who finished the match after claims that he had been gouged, has suffered no lasting effects with the alleged perpetrators, scrumhalf Julien Dupuy and prop David Attoub, due before a disciplinary hearing today at the ERC headquarters in Dublin.
“I never look back. I always look forward,” said McLaughlin. “We had a good win over Stade at the weekend but now it is all about Brussels.”
McLaughlin was informed that the overall tally now between Ulster and the Parisian side throughout the Heineken Cup years is five wins each but dismissed such statistics as irrelevant to his own tenure.
“My record is that we’ve won one match and lost none,” said the coach.
“I am just hoping that the record, come Saturday, will be played two, won two. We can go to Brussels with great passion and faith. We have kept our own destiny in our own hands.”
McLaughlin has stuck with the same group of forwards, who fronted up well and were able to frustrate an aggressive Stade pack.
Ferris is again likely to form the backrow with David Pollack and captain Chris Henry.
ULSTER SQUAD – Forwards: D Fitzpatrick, J Fitzpatrick, B Young, T Court, BJ Botha, N Brady, A Kyriacou, E O’Donoghue, D Tuohy, R Caldwell, C Henry, S Ferris, D Pollock, W Faloon, TJ Anderson. Backs: J Smith, C Schifcofske, A Trimble, S Danielli, D Cave, I Whitten, T Nagusa, I Humphreys, N O’Connor, I Boss, P Marshall, C Willis, P Wallace.
