RUGBY:SEAN LINEEN'S side came to Dublin last week on a five-game winning streak only to be, in his words, unceremoniously "spanked".
“They caught us with our pants taken down,” Lineen said of the 38-13 hiding from Leinster, “around the ankles.”
The description of their performance is crude yet accurate; Glasgow were horsed out of the collision area by a group that always up their intensity come the European days.
That Glasgow lie fourth in the RaboDirect Pro 12 is a poor reflection on the league itself.
“We’ll fix it,” Lineen continued. “We got a massive Pro 12 game against Ulster at home. They are another side who are incredibly physical, with quality players throughout the team. We’re under no illusions.”
Ulster, at least, made a battle of it against England’s finest, the Leicester Tigers, last Saturday but they too were always second best, eventually losing 20-9.
“Welford Road at the weekend was annoying,” said Ulster coach Brian McLaughlin. “We had everything more or less right but we just made little errors at crucial time which cost us. We played through some fantastic phases but made mistakes in crucial areas. If we’re going to go on and get to where we want to be as a team we’ve got to eradicate those individual errors.”
When Lineen speaks about Ulster physicality and quality he means Stephen Ferris. He would also be referring to Rory Best and Chris Henry. All three are rested this weekend; Ferris and Best due to the IRFU player management scheme, which must melt a provincial coach’s head on a weekend like this, while Henry, understandably, is put on ice having featured in all 10 Ulster outings this season.
Their ferocity in contact will inevitably dip, but not significantly as Robbie Diack and the natural fetching ability of Willie Faloon come into the backrow. Andy Kyriacou replaces Best at hooker.
New Zealand prop John Afoa has not returned yet so Declan Fitzpatrick continues at tighthead prop. This is a strange one considering the reason he left Belfast was to be best man at All Black flanker Jerome Kaino’s wedding.
Where is Kaino this weekend? Packing down at Twickenham for the Barbarians against Australia. Again, the Ulster management can’t be overjoyed with this situation.
Craig Gilroy is also rested due to “player management” yet the try-scoring 20-year-old is uncapped by Ireland. Still, he makes way as Simon Danielli switches to wing and Australian Adam D’Arcy goes to fullback.
So, plenty of notable holes in the line-up but one obvious positive is the continued game time for Nevin Spence at inside centre as Paddy Wallace remains out.
Lineen has unsurprisingly made six changes. Richie Gray, the jewel of coming Scottish forwards, is demoted to the bench, along with loosehead prop Ryan Grant as Tom Ryder and Jon Welsh are promoted.
There are four changes in the backline, with Samoan livewire David Lemi and Argentine Federico Aramburu coming on to the wings. Former Connacht player Troy Nathan is at outside centre, while Henry Pyrgos leaps over international colleague Chris Cusiter (Despite the sizeable dip of Scottish rugby fortunes in modern times, they continue to produce technically proficient scrumhalves by the shed load).
Established names like John Beattie (back), Rob Dewey (shoulder) and Ruaridh Jackson (hamstring) remain on their wounded list. Glasgow owe themselves and their coach a significantly improved performance but Ulster should still win and in doing so move to the fringes of the play-off zone as we enter the mid-point of the campaign.
ULSTER:A D'Arcy; A Trimble, D Cave, N Spence, S Danielli; I Humphreys, P Marshall; T Court, A Kyriacou, D Fitzpatrick; J Muller (capt), D Tuohy; R Diack, W Faloon, P Wannenburg. Replacements: N Brady, P McAllister, A Macklin, T Barker, M McComish, I Porter, P Jackson, I Whitten.
GLASGOW WARRIORS: S Hogg; D Lemi, T Nathan, G Morrison, F Aramburu; D Weir, H Pyrgos; J Welsh P MacArthur, M Cusack; T Ryder, A Kellock (capt); R Harley, J Barclay, R Wilson. Replacements: F Gillies, R Grant, M Low, R Gray, C Fusaro, C Cusiter, A Dunbar, C Shaw.
Referee: S Penne (FIR)
Verdict:Ulster win.
