Ulster v Scarlets: Teams

Ulster welcome back BJ Botha and Ian Humphreys for Friday's vital Magners League game against Scarlets at Ravenhill.

Brian McLaughlin has named an experienced team as Botha and Humphreys are drafted straight into the starting line-up after spells out injured.

Botha (elbow) has not featured since the Heineken Cup match against Biarritz in January, while Humphreys has not played since the end of February due to a hamstring injury.

Andrew Trimble also returns to the starting team after missing the last two games through injury but Stephen Ferris continues to be ruled out with a knee problem.

Rory Best takes over the captaincy from Johann Muller on his return to the starting XV. He played 15 minutes against Glasgow last week after returning from Six Nations duty and will start alongside Botha and Tom Court in an all-international front row.

In the back row Willie Fallon gains a start at openside flank in place of Chris Henry, who drops to the bench.

The backline has also been re-shuffled as Ruan Pienaar moves back to scrum-half to allow Humphreys to take the number 10 jersey.

Adam D'Arcy comes in at full-back as Simon Danielli moves to the wing and Craig Gilroy starts on the bench. The other wing berth is occupied by Trimble who has replaced 20-year-old Conor Gaston.

Positive

Scarlets travel to Ravenhill with a strong 23 boosted by all bar one of their Wales internationals - knowing that only a win will keep them in the top four play-off race.

The game comes at the end of a positive week for the Scarlets, with the region announcing that it has signed new contracts with 21 players.

With a number of key internationals all having given their resounding commitment to the future ambitions of the Scarlets, the group travel in positive and focused mood with an impressive backline ready to fire - having fine-tuned their performance after the home win against Treviso on Sunday.

The Scarlets narrowly lost out to Ulster in the final minutes of a hotly contested game at Parc y Scarlets in February, and the frustration of that loss (18-16) in the dying seconds is something the Scarlets will be looking to put this right. Ulster have never managed to achieve a season's double over Scarlets.

Wing Sean Lamont (hamstring strain), scrum-half Gareth Davies (dead leg) and wing George North (minor concussion) do not make late fitness tests but back and on the bench comes Wallaby number eight David Lyons after injury.

Wales and Scarlets captain, British Lions hooker Matthew Rees, is back at the helm again.

"We put ourselves in a great position at the beginning of the season, we have played well in our home games - we made a statement and put ourselves in a very good position," said Rees.

"A couple of games recently haven't gone our way but now we have to concentrate on the remainder of the season. It's a tough ask to get a result out there, but we have our best team out and we know Ulster will also be looking forward to a Heineken Cup quarter final.

"It's in our hands - we have to win our four remaining games starting with Friday night. We're in a dog-fight now with the other teams around us. We got the victory against Treviso last weekend, it wasn't the best of games but we have put things right this week.

"The conditions out there are going to be tricky, it will be an arm wrestle early on and we have to take the game to them. It all starts up front and delivering a set-piece for our backline to play off - and we know we've got some great players in our backline."

Ulster: 15 Adam D'Arcy, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Nevin Spence, 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Simon Danielli, 10 Ian Humphreys, 9 Ruan Pienaar; 8 Pedrie Wannenburg 7 Willie Faloon, 6 Robbie Diack, 5 Dab Tuohy, 4 Johan Muller, 3 BJ Botha, 2 Rory Best (c), 1 Tom Court.
Replacements:16 Andi Kyriacou, 17 Paddy McAllister, 18 Declan Fitzpatrick, 19 Tim Barker, 20 Chris Henry, 21 Paul Marshall, 22 Ian Whitten, 23 Craig Gilroy.

Scarlets: 15 Rhys Priestland, 14 Gareth Maule, 13 Regan King, 12 Jon Davies, 11 Morgan Stoddart, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Tavis Knoyle, 8 Ben Morgan. 7 Johnathan Edwards, 6 Josh Turnbull, 5 Rob McCusker, 4 Lou Reed, 3 Rhys Thomas, 2 Matthew Rees (capt), 1 Iestyn Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Emyr Phillips, 17 Rhodri Jones, 18 Peter Edwards, 19 Aaron Shingler, 20 David Lyons, 21 Martin Roberts, 22 Daniel Evans, 23 Scott Williams.