AS IS USUALLY the case with these December back-to-backs, going two-from-two can very often propel a side towards the knockout stages, and Ulster know victory tonight is a bare minimum if they’re to harbour genuine hope of a first European quarter-final in five seasons.
The northern province produced a brilliant bonus-point performance in Wales last weekend to stay in the hunt in the Heineken Champions Cup, and maintaining their strong form against Scarlets later [KO 7.45pm, BT Sport] could see them top Pool 4 heading into the weekend.
Sitting five points behind Racing 92 at the halfway juncture of the pool stages, Ulster are holding onto the final quarter-final qualifying berth as it stands, but can give their chances of progression a major boost at Kingspan Stadium in round four.
It will be the fourth meeting of the sides this season, and third in the last fortnight, with Ulster’s 25-24 win at Parc y Scarlets last week a really positive night for Dan McFarland’s side, who now have the potential to kick on as the crunch games approach.
It says a lot about the performance that McFarland has named an unchanged team for tonight’s rematch in Belfast, with no fewer than nine Ireland internationals in the starting XV, in addition to Springbok Marcell Coetzee.
Captain Rory Best will become Ulster’s most capped player in the European competition, moving one ahead of Andrew Trimble on 72 appearances, as the hooker again packs down alongside academy prop Eric O’Sullivan and Marty Moore.
The round three win over last year’s Champions Cup semi-finalists was arguably their best showing under McFarland — an unchanged matchday 23 is reflective of that — as their pack gave halfbacks John Cooney and Billy Burns the platform to dictate proceedings.
Outside them, man of the match Will Addison was outstanding in midfield in tandem with Stuart McCloskey, while Jacob Stockdale — this week named BBC NI Sports Personality of the Year — continued his prolific try-scoring exploits on the wing.
On paper, there is no reason why Ulster can’t compete at this level of European competition but having not advanced from the group stages in five seasons, the Ravenhill natives won’t be getting carried away just yet with plenty of rugby still to be played.
“It’s always dangerous when a team have nothing to lose, especially such a good attacking outfit like Scarlets,” Cooney said of this week’s challenge.
“We know they are going to throw around the ball and try and play so it’s important that we stick to our own structures and play our own game.”
“We don’t really want to get ahead of ourselves because it doesn’t really count for much if we come out this weekend and we don’t play well. We have to play to our brand and our ethos, like we did last weekend, so hopefully again this week it’s that enjoyable, running rugby.”
Wayne Pivac’s Scarlets have endured a difficult campaign to date, losing all three of their pool games, having reached the last four last term, and defeat at home seven days ago has left their campaign hanging by a thread.
12 points adrift of Racing, the Welsh region have not won a European game in Belfast since 2007, while their four-game losing streak in the competition is their worst since losing eight in a row between January 2015 and January 2016.
With a near sell-out Christmas crowd expected at Kingspan after fresh life was breathed into Ulster’s season, the province will be hoping to lean on their excellent home form again, having won eight of their last nine Champions Cup games in Belfast, winning those matches by an average margin of 20 points.
Cooney claims the standards set by Joe Schmidt at international level have been brought back to the province, with the scrum-half one of eight Ireland players returning to Ulster after involvement in the November series.
“In the Cardiff game the week before [16-12 Pro14 victory], we were nearly scared of losing. We went out there and just about won. We said, ‘why not go after them [Scarlets]?” he continued.
“A lot of those good habits you get down at Carton House with Joe, we have been emulating them in training”
“We knew we had to take it to them. It underlined what team we want to be. That goes back to Joe and we are driving that now with Ulster.
“That clarity last week in training was amazing. That means come Wednesday or Thursday, everyone is ready to go and there is no self-doubt. Everyone knows what to do.”
The challenge now is to go and replicate that, in the knowledge another big European night under the lights in Belfast would put Ulster in good stead heading into the final round of games in January.
Ulster:
15. Louis Ludik
14. Henry Speight
13. Will Addison
12. Stuart McCloskey
11. Jacob Stockdale
10. Billy Burns
9. John Cooney
1. Eric O’Sullivan
2. Rory Best (captain)
3. Marty Moore
4. Iain Henderson
5. Kieran Treadwell
6. Sean Reidy
7. Jordi Murphy
8. Marcell Coetzee.
Replacements:
16. Rob Herring
17. Kyle McCall
18. Tom O’Toole
19. Matty Rea
20. Nick Timoney
21. Dave Shanahan
22. Johnny McPhillips
23. Darren Cave.
Scarlets:
15. Johnny McNicholl
14. Tom Prydie
13. Jonathan Davies
12. Kieron Fonotia
11. Steff Evans
10. Rhys Patchell
9. Gareth Davies
1. Rob Evans
2. Ken Owens (captain)
3. Samson Lee
4. Lewis Rawlins
5. David Bulbring
6. Will Boyde
7. James Davies
8. Uzair Cassiem.
Replacements:
16. Ryan Elias
17. Wyn Jones
18. Werner Kruger
19. Steve Cummins
20. Dan Davis
21. Kieran Hardy
22. Dan Jones
23. Hadleigh Parkes.
Referee: Luke Pearce [RFU].
Murray Kinsella, Gavan Casey and Eddie O’Sullivan preview another big weekend of Heineken Cup action and dissect the week’s main talking points.
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