IAIN HENDERSON RETURNS to a battle-scarred Ulster XV for tomorrow’s Heineken Cup clash against the Glasgow Warriors in Ravenhill.
Henderson replaces influential pack leader Dan Tuohy who has failed to recover from the calf strain which he picked up last weekend.
The change is one of five made by coach Mark Anscombe for a game which Ulster need to win to cement their place at the top of Pool Four and move one stop closer to a valuable home quarter-final.
But they will have to do without a host of their regular starters with Tuohy, Johann Muller and Stephen Ferris all missing from the pack while backs Luke Marshall and Adam D’Arcy are also sidelined following the 47-17 win against the Scarlets.
Marshall’s fractured finger sees Paddy Wallace come to partner Darren Cave in midfield while Jared Payne has recovered from a groin strain to take his place at full-back.
Up front, Rory Best and John Afoa return to lead a strengthened front row.
Glasgow coach Gregor Townsend has plenty of injury worries of his own with no fewer than 13 players — including Scottish internationals John Barclay, Chris Cusiter, Sean Lamont and Ruaridh Jackson — all unavailable.
A shortage of eligible front-row players means that Gordon Reid will be the only replacement prop on the Warriors bench in Ravenhill.
Townsend makes six changes from the side which beat Benetton Treviso in the Pro12 last weekend and he knows that his players will have to step up their efforts if they are to avoid their fifth straight defeat in the pool stages.
“Ulster are clearly a very fine side,” he told the Warriors website. “They’ve only been beaten once at Ravenhill in the last 13 Heineken Cup games but this is the kind of challenge we look forward to, it means we’re testing ourselves against the best sides around.
“We performed very well in the Heineken Cup last time out against Castres and we’re coming off a good run of wins in the league so there’s a confidence about the squad at the moment that their hard work is paying off.
“We know our results in the Heineken Cup haven’t been good enough so we want to show that we’re capable of performing at an elite level regardless of the opponent or the situation.”
Ulster: J Payne; A Trimble, D Cave, P Wallace, C Gilroy; P Jackson, R Pienaar; T Court, R Best, J Afoa, L Stevenson, I Henderson, R Diack, C Henry, N Williams. Replacements: R Herring, C Black, D Fitzpatrick, N McComb, R Wilson, P Marshall, M Allen, C Cochrane.
Glasgow Warriors: P Murchie; S Maitland, A Dunbar, P Horne, DTH van der Merwe; D Weir, H Pyrgos; R Grant, D Hall, M Low; T Ryder, A Kellock (c); J Eddie, R Harley, J Strauss. Replacements: P MacArthur, G Reid, N Campbell, T Swinson, N Matawalu, S Wight, S Hogg.
