Ulster v Cardiff Blues: Teams
Ulster host Cardiff Blues aiming to avenge a 19-9 defeat at the hands of their opponents last time.
Last Updated: 02/04/10 3:11pm
Ulster host Cardiff Blues aiming to avenge a 19-9 defeat at the hands of their opponents last time.
Maama Molitika came off the bench for the Blues to score the only try of the game in the Cardiff City Stadium as the Welsh outfit won to leapfrog Ulster in the Magners League table.
Now back on home soil, Ulster head coach Brian McLaughlin is expecting a much improved performance from his side.
He said: "Saturday night is going to be a really big game for us. It is one that we have got to turn up to, get our act together and play in front of our own fans at Ravenhill, to show them exactly what we are capable off.
"Training has gone very well this week, despite the weather. We have been fortunate to get the use of the indoor facility at the Sports Institute of Northern Ireland at Jordanstown, so our sessions have been very productive.
"We are really looking forward to the weekend because in the last two games we have not done ourselves justice; we have had disappointing displays against the Scarlets and Cardiff. We just want to get back to Ravenhill and play the way we can play, and play for our fans."
Isaac Boss returns at scrum-half for the hosts, with Paul Marshall starting on the bench.
Changes in the pack see Declan Fitzpatrick replace an injured Tom Court at loose head, while Ed O'Donoghue starts at No 4, with Dan Tuohy moving to the replacements.
Cardiff changes
Cardiff Blues Director of Rugby David Young has made four changes to the starting line-up which beat Ulster last time.
In the backs, Jamie Roberts comes in for the injured Tom Shanklin, while in the forwards Sam Warburton starts at openside, Molitika starts at blindside and Deiniol Jones returns from injury to feature in the second row.
Gareth Williams also returns from injury to take a place on the bench, while John Yapp, who was named in the original 27 man squad, is expected to return to action next weekend.
Young said: "We were not happy with the way we played last week but at the end of the day it was a win so we have to be pleased with that and as I said after the match the result is a lot more important that the performance at this stage of the season.
"We can play a lot better but we also expect them to be a lot better. If we can get the result it will certainly help our cause.
"We obviously struggled last week as we had a number of players coming back into the team after Welsh duty and it looked as if they hadn't played together for a number of weeks which was the case so we will be looking for a big improvement this week."
Ulster: 15 Jamie Smith, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Darren Cave, 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Simon Danielli, 10 Niall O'Connor, 9 Isaac Boss, 1 Declan Fitzpatrick, 2 Rory Best, 3 BJ Botha, 4 Ed O'Donoghue, 5 Ryan Caldwell, 6 Stephen Ferris, 7 David Pollock, 8 Chris Henry (c).
Replacements: 16 Andi Kyriacou, 17 Bryan Young, 18 Dan Tuohy, 19 Robbie Diack, 20 Paul Marshall, 21 Ian Whitten, 22 Timoci Nagusa
Cardiff Blues: 15 Ben Blair, 14 Leigh Halfpenny, 13 Casey Laulala, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Tom James, 10 Ceri Sweeney, 9 Richie Rees, 1 Gethin Jenkins, 2 T Rhys Thomas, 3 Taufa'au Filise, 4 Deiniol Jones, 5 Paul Tito, 6 Maama Molitika, 7 Sam Warburton, 8 Xavier Rush.
Replacements: 16 Scott Andrews, 17 Gareth Williams, 18 Andries Pretorius, 19 Martyn Williams, 20 Darren Allinson, 21 Dai Flanagan, 22 Dafydd Hewitt.