Williams Names His Side

Matt Williams has today named his starting line up to take on Munster in Cork on Saturday evening. Williams has made eight changes to the starting fifteen that defeated the Scarlets at Ravenhill in February.

Irish internationals Tommy Bowe and Andrew Trimble start for their province with Paddy Wallace partnering Trimble in the mid field. Bryn Cunningham returns to the full back slot with Australian Mark Bartholomeusz named on the left wing. Former Methody pupil Paul Marshall is given the nod ahead of Isaac Boss to start at scrum half and will be relishing the chance to line up against Irish scrum half Peter Stringer. Rob Dewey returns from injury and is named on the bench.

In the forwards Justin Fitzpatrick adds a hard edge to the front row alongside Irish hooker Rory Best and Tom Court. Italian Carlo Del Fava partners Ryan Caldwell in the second row with Justin Harrison acting as cover on the bench. The back row sees two changes from the spirited side that beat Scarlets in February with Neil Best starting and former Irish U20s Captain David Pollock named alongside Stephen Ferris.

Williams said this of his selection decisions, “We have a good young side and we want to see how some of the younger players perform in a tough environment down in Munster, there is not a lot between any of the players but this is just an opportunity for them to come out and play”

“Training has been good this week, we had all the players back that we haven’t had in months. Trimble hasn’t been with the team for two months and Paddy, Tommy and Rory have only been with us for 48 hours before the last two games, Carlo is the same. So, this week it has been about fitting a lot of our players into training. We have an injury to Simon Danielli so there has been a lot to do this week”

When questioned on his opponents Williams had this to say, “Munster will be a tough, hard and well organised outfit, which is what I would expect”

Ulster Team: (15-9)B Cunningham; T Bowe, A Trimble, P Wallace, M Bartholomeusz, N O’Connor, P Marshall;
(1-8) J Fitzpatrick, R Best (Capt), T Court, R Caldwell, C Del Fava, N Best, D Pollock, S Ferris

Replacements (16-22) N Brady, B Young, J Harrison, M McCullough, I Boss, R Dewey, M McCrea