By my reckoning only 3 of that pack would fancy their chances of getting into the Connacht team, need to go after them in the forwards where we fronted up really well against Leinster.
13-14-15 in the backs very green too.

Ulster Rugby team to play Connacht Rugby, Guinness PRO14 Round 6, Friday 5th October, Kingspan Stadium, 7.35pm (live on Premier Sports & eir Sport):
Peter Nelson; Angus Kernohan, Angus Curtis, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale, Billy Burns, John Cooney;
Andrew Warwick, Rory Best (captain), Tom O’Toole, Alan O’Connor, Iain Henderson, Matthew Rea, Nick Timoney, Marcell Coetzee;
Replacements (16-23): Adam McBurney, Eric O’Sullivan, Ross Kane, Kieran Treadwell, Sean Reidy, Dave Shanahan, Johnny McPhillips, James Hume.

15-9) Tiernan O’Halloran, Niyi Adeolokun, Tom Farrell, Bundee Aki, Matt Healy, Jack Carty, Kieran Marmion, (1-8)Denis Buckley, Tom McCartney, Finlay Bealham, Ultan Dillane, Quinn Roux, Sean O’Brien, Jarrad Butler (Capt), Paul Boyle.

Replacements (16-23): Shane Delahunt, Peter McCabe, Conor Carey, James Cannon, Colby Fainga’a, Caolin Blade, Kyle Godwin, Cian Kelleher.

theCulk wrote: Best place to catch the game in Bristol? Heading there for a stag

Walkabout a good shout. On same street as the Commercial Rooms, a Wetherspoons in an old Georgian gentlemen's club.

Best place to catch the game in Bristol? Heading there for a stag

What about our Glorious Leader, Jarrad Butler? Is he fit to play this Friday night? Could be the difference between winning and losing.

Always feel pessimistic about this fixture, trebly so after the munster win and Best back in the fold. He will be tearing strips off fellas in training this week if necessary, there has to be a reaction or they might as well just close up shop. We have gone to Belfast with a better team/squad than them on paper a number of times in recent years and they still manage to win. I want to be wrong of course but we'll wait and see.

Maybe, but he was at the August international camp so he's more likely than Farrell, TOH, Carty, etc.

salmson wrote: McCartney took over the captaincy when he came on for Heff, and Delahunt seems somewhat out of favour, so I'd expect Tom to start. Pretty sure Scholes was injured in an Eagles game a few weeks ago.

Hard to guess the team. Given that some or all of Aki, Marmion, Bealham, Adeolokun, Dillane, Roux, and Buckley won't be available for the Ospreys game, I'd expect them all to feature in at least 2 of the next 3 games.

Bit of a stretch no?

McCartney took over the captaincy when he came on for Heff, and Delahunt seems somewhat out of favour, so I'd expect Tom to start. Pretty sure Scholes was injured in an Eagles game a few weeks ago.

Hard to guess the team. Given that some or all of Aki, Marmion, Bealham, Adeolokun, Dillane, Roux, and Buckley won't be available for the Ospreys game, I'd expect them all to feature in at least 2 of the next 3 games.

I guess we'll be going all out for this and then rest key players for the European games. Wouldn't surprise me to see something like:
Kelleher, Niyi, Tom F, Bundee, Matt H, Jack Carty, Blade.
Dennis, Shane D, Bealham, Roux, Cannon, Boyle, Jarrad, Copeland.
with McCabe, Carey, McCartney, Dillane, SOB, Marmion, Godwin, and Scholes on the bench.

Ulster Rugby v Connacht Rugby – KO 19.35
Kingspan Stadium, Belfast
Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU)
AR1: George Clancy (IRFU), AR2: Sean Gallagher (IRFU)
TMO: Olly Hodges (IRFU)
Live on Premier Sports 1, eir sport 1

Thornbury (AC joint, out til Nov/Dec), Robertson-McCoy (rank stupidity, quite a while) & Heffernan (ankle, scan pending) out for us, Butler & Healy back. No news on Ronaldson.

I'd be expecting some sort of backlash. I know they have a lot of injuries but Best and Stockdale are back in the fold. If Henderson is not fit then there's a real chance for us to break the duck.

If they play anything like they did against Munster then we should win, but they can't play that badly again.......surely :S

Ulster with a big injury list for Friday. Around 15 players missing.

www.ulsterrugby.com/2018/10/squad-update-2-oct-2018/

Rory Best, Jacob Stockdale and Sean Reidy are all now available for selection after recovering from recent injuries. John Cooney sustained a scalp laceration against Munster but he is expected to be fit to face Connacht on Friday evening.

Marcell Coetzee (shoulder), Will Addison (back) and Michael Lowry (shoulder) are recovering well from recent injuries and will continue to be assessed throughout the week.

Iain Henderson suffered a concussion during the Munster match and will follow Return to Play protocols. Darren Cave fractured his thumb in the same fixture and had surgery on Monday. He is expected to return to play within eight weeks. Wiehahn Herbst had surgery on Tuesday to repair a torn adductor tendon sustained in the recent game against the Cheetahs.

The current injury list also includes: Peter Browne (concussion) David Busby (knee) Rob Herring (toe) Louis Ludik (hamstring) Rob Lyttle (knee) Luke Marshall (knee) Kyle McCall (elbow) Marty Moore (calf) Jordi Murphy (ankle) Tommy O’Hagan (ankle) Jack Owens (concussion) Henry Speight (knee)