INTERNATIONAL PAIR CHRIS Henry and Dan Tuohy will have to wait another week to make their seasonal debut for Ulster following Mark Anscombe’s decision to rest them for Friday’s RaboDirect Pro12 derby against Munster.
IRFU policy meant that Henry and Tuohy missed Ulster’s opening wins against Glasgow and the Ospreys as they recovered from the New Zealand summer tour.
Both players were named in Anscombe’s 26-man squad announced yesterday, suggesting that they might play some part in the Ravenhill clash, but the New Zealander has decided instead to ease them back to action when Ulster Ravens play Munster “A” on Friday.
“It’s important for us to get them some game time so the Ravens is a good start,” Anscombe told UlsterRugby.com.
“Chris has only been training with the team for two weeks and has had very little contact. He hasn’t played a lot of rugby since the Heineken Cup Final. He went to New Zealand (on Ireland’s Summer Tour) but only got a few minutes.
“It’s a long season and the guys in their positions have been doing a good job so it’s a balance of getting them back up to speed and rewarding the players who have been doing the job for us.”
Anscombe makes seven changes in total to the starting XV which kept up Ulster’s 100% start with a 16-13 win on the road against the Ospreys last weekend.
There are four changes in the pack with Tom Court, John Afoa and Nigel Brady coming in to an all-new front row while Stephen Ferris wins his 100th cap for the province at blindside flanker.
Paul Marshall and Paddy Jackson link up for the first time this season in the half-backs while Andrew Trimble, a second-half substitute in the Liberty Stadium last Saturday, replaces Craig Gilroy on the wing.
Ulster: Jared Payne; Andrew Trimble, Darren Cave, Luke Marshall, Mike Allen; Paddy Jackson, Paul Marshall; Tom Court, Nigel Brady, John Afoa; Johann Muller (c), Lewis Stevenson; Stephen Ferris, Sean Doyle, Nick Williams. Replacements: Rob Herring, Callum Black, Declan Fitzpatrick, Neil McComb, Mike McComish, Michael Heaney, Peter Nelson, Craig Gilroy.
Munster: Denis Hurley; Doug Howlett (c), Casey Laulala, James Downey, Luke O’Dea; Ian Keatley, Duncan Williams; Dave Kilcoyne, Damien Varley, BJ Botha; Donncha O’Callaghan, Billy Holland; Dave O’Callaghan, Sean Dougall, James Coughlan. Replacements: Mike Sherry, Marcus Horan, Stephen Archer, Dave Foley, Tommy O’Donnell, Conor Murray, Ronan O’Gara, Keith Earls.
