European Cup: Ulster coach Alan Solomons has made two changes to the team which edged out Stade Francais in the Heineken European Cup last weekend for Saturday's Celtic Cup final against Edinburgh at Murrayfield.
Paddy Wallace is preferred to Bryn Cunningham at full back while Matt Mustchin comes into the second row in place of Gary Longwell, who is dropped from the match 22.
Wallace only made the bench for the Stade Francais game as a result of a shoulder injury to Ryan Constable. The knock-on effect was that Shane Stewart was promoted to the team and Wallace to the bench. He came on as a replacement for Cunningham on Friday night and scored Ulster's only try in their 22-20 success.
"Paddy gets a chance to stake his claim and the time is now right for him to get a run at full back," said Solomons. "He hasn't really had a chance (with injuries) over the past two years. He has worked extremely hard at both club (level) and when he played against Borders. We are very fortunate to have someone of Bryn's quality on the bench."
Longwell's demise is directly attributable to the calf injury that has dogged him since prior to the World Cup. "Gary was in a difficult position in that at the World Cup he wasn't able to play or train because of a pulled calf muscle," Solomons explained. "He was out of action for six weeks. He has been struggling a little bit since.
"The proper course of action is for him to play 80 minutes of rugby in what is a two week window in which we can really focus on his conditioning and get him fit again."
Longwell will play for Ballymena in their Ulster Senior League game against Portadown on Saturday. Club-mate Matt McCullough, out injured for several weeks, made his return at club level in their League Division One defeat by St Mary's College, and is promoted to the Ulster bench for the trip to Scotland. Edinburgh may release their team today.
ULSTER: P Wallace; J Topping, S Stewart, P Steinmetz, T Howe; D Humphreys, N Doak; R Kempson, M Sexton, S Best, R Frost, M Mustchin, A Ward (capt), R Wilson, N Best. Replacements: P Shields, R Moore, M McCullough, T McWhirter, K Campbell, A Larkin, B Cunningham.
