Cardiff Blues v Ulster: Teams

Cardiff Blues welcome Ulster for Sunday's Magners League encounter buoyed by the fact they have lost just one of their last five matches in the competition.

The Blues have won four of their last five games against Irish opponents and have won their last seven matches against Ulster.

They welcome back a number of experienced players with Chris Czekaj, Casey Laulala and Ceri Sweeney returning in the backs. Tom Slater starts at scrum-half in place of the injured Lloyd Williams.

In the forwards there is a new back row with Xavier Rush, Michael Paterson and Maama Molitika starting while Paul Tito captains the side from the second row.

The Blues also welcome back Taufa'ao Filise from injury, with T Rhys Thomas also starting at hooker.

Strong squad

However, Blues Director of Rugby David Young is taking nothing for granted.

"Ulster have spent a lot of money and obviously are a team that want to get back to the top where they were a couple of seasons ago," he said.

"They have a strong squad and have picked up a lot of wins this season, so I think it will be a difficult game for us.

"I don't think they are burdened with a lot of international withdrawals, so we know we are up against a very strong team and they will probably feel it's a good time to come to Cardiff with so many of our internationals away.

"We've had some good results in the Magners League without really playing as well as we would have liked.

"Against Aironi we put in a very positive performance and the players showed a lot of hurt and determination. So I'd like to think we can start against Ulster where we finished in Italy.

"We played a very simple game plan that day but are looking to expand our game with some big matches coming up over the next six to eight weeks."

Ulster are missing a couple of faces due to international call ups. South African recruits Pedrie Wannenburg and Johann Muller are both in the starting pack.

Irish internationals Paddy Wallace and Andrew Trimble are however restricted to bench duty.

Cardiff Blues: 15 Chris Czekaj, 14 Richard Mustoe, 13 Casey Laulala, 12 Dafydd Hewitt, 11 Tom James, 10 Ceri Sweeney, 9 Tom Slater, 8 Xavier Rush, 7 Maama Molitika, 6 Michael Paterson, 5 Paul Tito (c), 4 James Down, 3 Scott Andrews, 2 T Rhys Thomas, 1 Taufa'ao Filise.
Replacements:16 Gareth Williams 17 Tom Davies 18 Sam Hobbs 19 Bryn Griffiths 20 Ben White 21 Dan Fish 22 Gareth Davies 23 Gavin Evans.

Ulster: 15 Adam D'Arcy, 14 Craig Gilroy, 13 Nevin Spence, 12 Ian Whitten, 11 Simon Danielli, 10 Ian Humphreys, 9 Paul Marshall, 8 Robbie Diack 7 Chris Henry, 6 Pedrie Wannenburg, 5 Dan Tuohy, 4 Johann Muller (C), 3 BJ Botha, 2 Nigel Brady, 1 Paddy McAllister.
Replacements: 16 Andi Kyriacou, 17 Bryan Young, 18 Jerry Cronin, 19 Tim Barker, 20 Willie Faloon, 21 Ian Porter, 22 Paddy Wallace, 23 Andrew Trimble.