Edinburgh v Ulster, Murrayfield, Monday, 8.15 – Live in Eir Sport 2
The 20-year-old Aaron Sexton is set to make his Ulster debut after being named amongst the replacements as Dan McFarland's side look to maintain an unbeaten start to the Pro14 season in Edinburgh on Monday night.
Sexton is an accomplished sprinter with a 10.43 second personal best for the 100 metres, 20.69 for the 200 metres and is a member of the Ireland Sevens squad as well as the Ulster academy.
The former Bangor Grammar pupil was coached in athletics by his father Roger, and Aaron had the temerity to break his dad’s sprint records at the school. He had a decision to make in choosing between athletics and rugby and chose the field sport.
An injury here and there means that Monday night's game is something of a belated debut given his assets. James Hume returns to the centre, Ian Madigan is back in the No 10 jersey, while prop Andrew Warwick will make his first start of the season. Alan O'Connor and Sam Carter form a secondrow pairing in the absence of the suspended Kieran Treadwell.
Sean Reidy switches to blindside flanker to accommodate the return of Jordi Murphy. Number eight Marcell Coetzee is in exceptional form and is the tournament's leading try scorer with eight. Rainey Old Boys' hooker Bradley Roberts has been training with Ulster for the last few weeks and is named among the replacements.
Edinburgh coach Richard Cockerill, who welcomes back Fijian number eight Bill Mata to the matchday 23, said: "We have won two out of our last three games and will be looking to bounce back from what was obviously a disappointing result in Dublin. Ulster are a very good side but it's a challenge our squad will relish."
EDINBURGH: J Blain; E Sau, J Johnstone, C Dean, J Farndale; N Chamberlain, H Pyrgos (capt); P Schoeman, D Cherry, LR Atalifo; A Ferreira, A Davidson; M Bradbury, L Crosbie, A Miller.
Replacements: M Willemse, S Grahamslaw, D Gamble, J Hodgson, B Mata, C Boyle, C Shield, A Coombes.
ULSTER: M Lowry; M Faddes, J Hume, S Moore, R Lyttle; I Madigan, J Cooney; A Warwick, J Andrew, M Moore; A O'Connor, S Carter (capt); S Reidy, J Murphy, M Coetzee.
Replacements: B Roberts, K McCall, G Milasinovich, D O'Connor, D McCann, D Shanahan, B Johnston, A Sexton.
Referee: C Evans (Wales).
