Complacency
THIRTEEN WINS. IT’S an amazing tally to string together for any team in any code.
Yet every time Ulster go away from home, TheScore.ie expects it to come to an end.
At some stage, it will come grinding to an inglorious halt. But you would have to be mad to expect it to come in a Heineken Cup pool game under lights in Ravenhill.
This is Ulster’s traditional strength, which is precisely why it could work against them.
Northampton are in Belfast today as massive underdogs after being beaten by four tries to nil on their own patch. No matter how impressive Ulster were eight days ago, the Saints remain a proud club and will be out to spoil the party tonight.
Iain Henderson v Calum Clark
The 20-year-old boy-beast is not the only one pushed into second row action from the blindside.
Lock is Henderson’s natural position, but he has been eased into first team action as a powerful flanker. Today will be a big opportunity for him, if he can hold his own against a formidable club-standard pack like this Premiership side he’ll have gone a long way towards showing he is capable of taking over the number 4 shirt sooner rather than later.
Nick Williams v Tom Wood
Filling the vacated number 6 jerseys are the considerable frames of Ulster’s player of the first half dozen games of this season and the star of England’s November campaign. Neither have shown much form for backward steps.
For Wood, it’s a chance to line out in his best position for hi club, a role he performs with distinction at international level. If the Saints are to gain an upper hand at the breakdown, then they will need the rangy flanker at his disruptive best.
Williams is a different shape of a man altogether. Ulster have had him in comparative cold storage of late, preferring the all-round game of Roger Wilson to his non-stop lust to move forward in and through contact. That’s no bad asset to have at your disposal though.
Darren Cave v George Pisi
Franklin’s Gardens witnessed Cave’s best ever performance in an Ulster shirt. In possession, he was sharp, incisive and creative. Without the ball, he was rock solid.
Ulster will feel emboldened enough by their defensive accuracy to kick the ball to the visitors in search of errors. If the white pack manages to hold off the pick and drives, then Saints will move the ball out to their pacey Samoans. So the man with the black eye, and his partner in crime Paddy Wallace, will have to intervene.
Prediction: Ulster 26 – 17 Northampton
