Match Preview: Ulster Rugby vs. Leicester Tigers

[ADM]

[tag=image]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/e ... _badge.png[/tag][tag=content]The end is nigh.

Five games ago we headed to Welford Road off the back of a brilliant win over Glasgow and bursting with confidence that we could possibly have a shot at winning the inaugural Champions’ Cup. How wrong we were. Even though we emerged from Leicester with our pride intact and a losing bonus point, defeat to Toulon the next week spelt the beginning of the end and after the back-to-backs against the Scarlets we knew our dream was over.

One thing we can say though is that we have a great bunch of lads. Whether that counts for much is in the eye of the beholder and what not but we saw a lot of pride in the shirt last week in the south of France and, although we were on the end of a drubbing at the hands of the side that will more than likely win the whole tournament, we could not have asked more from the boys.

Indeed some gave so much that they now miss the next three months of the season.

And so we conclude our tale of woe with the visit of the Tigers to the Kingspan tomorrow. We’ve a good record against Leicester in Belfast to the tune of 33-0, 41-7 and 22-16 wins in our last three meetings. Still, I’m not sure our English visitors have ever faced this depleted an Ulster team and we may be looking at our exemplary home record broken by Saturday night, no matter how well they try.

It’s easy to look at this game as a dead rubber – a non-event if you will – but in reality there is a lot of pride at stake. With Toulon likely to take the scalp of the Scarlets, a victory tomorrow would take us off the bottom of Pool Three and protect the tiny bit of pride we have left while also giving us some much needed confidence heading into the Six Nations period. With no more European rugby to look forward to, the Pro12 is priority number one.

That’s why we need a win.

Leicester, as per usual, will provide an extremely stern test of our resources in every facet of our game. Much like Toulon, albeit to a lesser extent, they have a star-studded squad with talent bursting at the seams across the park. It is maybe a saving grace that Manu Tuilagi hasn’t made the game, not that he ever plays that well against us anyway, but despite that you still have the small problem of the incredible physicality that Leicester possess – something which we have struggled to deal with this season.

So we may need a win, but getting it is another matter.

Eight changes for Neil Doak with the main news the return of Iain Henderson, more notably in the back row rather than at lock. Tommy Bowe and Craig Gilroy both return to the wings while Luke Marshall and Ian Humphreys come in for the injured duo Stuart Olding and Paddy Jackson respectively. An all-changed front row of Callum Black, captain Rory Best and Wiehahn Herbst is backed up by an unchanged second row of Alan O’Connor and Franco van der Merwe. Henderson is the only change in the back row in place of Clive Ross at blindside.

An unchanged back line for Richard Cockerill and Leicester was expected, while three changes in the forwards are the only alterations to last week’s side. Marcos Ayerza and Tom Youngs come into the starting XV in their continued rotation with Michele Rizzo and Leonardo Ghiraldini, while injury to Brad Thorn means a start for Graham Kitchener in the second row.

In many ways you do have to applaud EPCR, they have created an elite European tournament with five extremely competitive pools that really sorts the wheat from the chaff, better than the Heineken Cup did. Despite this, I’m sure none of us will be all too disappointed to see the back of it for this season – we were never going to win it and until we have a team of internationals at our disposal, we probably can’t.

Still, it’s always nice to win.

Ulster Rugby vs. Leicester Tigers
Saturday 24th January, 17:30
Kingspan Stadium
European Rugby Champions’ Cup – Pool Game 6

Live on Sky Sports 1

ULSTER RUGBY
15. Jared Payne, 14. Tommy Bowe, 13. Darren Cave, 12. Luke Marshall, 11. Craig Gilroy, 10. Ian Humphreys, 9. Ruan Pienaar; 1. Callum Black, 2. Rory Best (capt.), 3. Wiehahn Herbst, 4. Alan O’Connor, 5. Franco van der Merwe, 6. Iain Henderson, 7. Mike McComish, 8. Roger Wilson.

16. Rob Herring, 17. Andrew Warwick, 18. Bronson Ross, 19. Lewis Stevenson, 20. Clive Ross, 21. Neil McComb, 22. Paul Marshall, 23. Michael Allen.

LEICESTER TIGERS
15. Mathew Tait, 14. Adam Thompstone, 13. Vereniki Goneva, 12. Seremaia Bai, 11. Miles Benjamin, 10. Freddie Burns, 9. Ben Youngs (capt.); 1. Marcos Ayerza, 2. Tom Youngs, 3. Logovi’i Mulipola, 4. Graham Kitchener, 5. Geoff Parling, 6. Tom Croft, 7. Julian Salvi, 8. Jordan Crane.

16. Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17. Michele Rizzo, 18. Fraser Balmain, 19. Sebastien de Chaves, 20. Robert Barbieri, 21. Sam Harrison, 22. Owen Williams, 23. Niall Morris.

Referee: Pascal Gauzere (FFR)
Assistant Referees: Cyril Lafon, Stephane Boyer (both FFR)
TMO: Philippe Bonhoure (FFR)[/tag]