Rugby:BJ Botha may have played his last game for Ulster after it was confirmed the South African has suffered a medial ligament knee injury. The prop, who moves to Munster during the summer, will be replaced by Jerry Cronin for tomorrow night's meeting with Connacht at Ravenhill (7.05pm).
Cronin replaced Botha at the RDS last weekend and will make his full debut in a match Ulster simply cannot afford to lose. Currently second in the Magners League standings, Ulster need to win both of their remaining matches to guarantee a play-off berth.
After last weekend’s capitulation against Leinster, Brian McLaughlin has made a raft of changes to his side with Tom Court jettisoned from the match day squad entirely while Willie Faloon and Johann Muller come back into the pack.
Paddy Wallace and Andrew Trimble are both ruled out after sustaining broken thumbs, their absence affording opportunities in the backline for Darren Cave and Simon Danielli.
“We have to win the last two games, there’s no doubt about that,” McLaughlin said of Ulster’s run-in. “At the minute we are not even thinking about the second one. The most important thing for us is to make sure that on Friday night at Ravenhill we get the result we need."
Connacht coach Eric Elwood welcomes back Brett Wilkinson, Michael Swift and John Muldoon - who broke his arm - to his pack for the match in Belfast.
The only change to the Connacht backline from last week's defeat at home to Cardiff sees Eoin Griffin come in for Brian Tuohy on the right wing.
Ulster: A D'Arcy; C Gilroy, D Cave, N Spence, S Danielli; I Humphreys, R Pienaar; P McAllister, R Best, J Cronin; J Muller, D Tuohy; C Henry, W Faloon, P Wannenburg. Replacements:A Kyriacou, B Young, A Macklin, T Barker, R Diack, P Marshall, I Whitten, C Gaston.
Connacht:G Duffy; E Griffin, N Ta'auso, T Nathan, F Carr; I Keatley, F Murphy; B Wilkinson, S Cronin, J Hagan; M Swift, B Upton; M McCarthy, J O'Connor, J Muldoon. Replacements:A Flavin, R Loughney, R Ah You, A Browne, M McComish, C Willis, M Nikora, TO'Halloran.
