ULSTER ASSISTANT DAN Soper hailed the impact of the returning Marty Moore in the northern province’s come-from-behind victory against the Lions at Kingspan Stadium.
Dan McFarland’s men sat top of the URC table overnight on Friday after a pair of tries early in the second-half saw them take control of a contest they would ultimately win 24-17 despite trailing by a score at the turn.
While James Hume, Jacob Stockdale and Rob Herring were the try scorers on a rain-lashed Belfast night, Soper reserved special praise for tighthead Moore who came on with 35 minutes remaining after 11 months on the sideline with a knee issue.
Taking the place of Scott Wilson, the Academy prop who debuted only last week, Moore quickly set about making his presence felt in the set-piece.
“Fabulous,” said Soper of Moore’s cameo. “He had a real impact. “The first thing he did was come on and had the scrum and then a maul. He won that front edge at the maul and created the score (for Herring).
“It’s been a hell of a tough road for Marty to get back so we’re delighted for him. It’s been great for Scottie to train with him the last few weeks so we’re in good health there.”
On the other side of the scrum, Ulster are set for reinforcement too with World Cup winner Steven Kitshoff set to touch down in Belfast over the weekend.
Soper revealed that Ulster will need to see how the former Stormers captain shapes up in training next week before making a call on whether he will debut away to Glasgow in Scotstoun but said there was genuine excitement to welcome the 83-times capped Springbok into the squad.
“Yeah, it’ll be class,” he enthused. “I think he arrives this weekend. He’s obviously had a helluva last few months. I dare say the last couple of weeks have been good fun for him so we’ll see how he fronts up.
“We’re bringing in a World Cup winner and a player who is arguably the best in his position in the world. It’ll be great to bring him into the group. It’ll be great to learn things from him about the Stormers and how they’ve gone about things, and obviously with South Africa too.
“You bring someone of that calibre in and obviously it’s really exciting.”
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