Jamie Smith and Darren Cave are out for Ulster
Ulster’s Jamie Smith and Darren Cave will miss their Heineken Cup match against Biarritz on Sunday, October 17, due to injury.
Smith and Cave will not travel to Biarritz with the Ulster squad, forcing Coach Brian McLaughlin to make two changes to his back line.
Smith picked up a shoulder injury, while Cave is struggling with a knee injury. McLaughlin is likely to bring Adam D’Arcy or David McIlwaine into the full back position to replace Smith.
A new midfield partnership of Ian Whitten and Paddy Wallace will line up against Biarritz in the absence of centre Cave. Whitten is an experienced player and will slot into Cave’s outside centre position.
Fortunately, McLauglin did receive some good news. Niall O’Connor is expected to return to the number 10 position and reclaim his place in the team at the expense of Ian Humphreys.
Influential forwards BJ Botha and Stephen Ferris are also expected to return after they were injured in the Magners League match with Connacht. Botha’s resulting hand injury has since completely healed and Ferris has overcome his shoulder problems.
The two experienced internationals will be needed if the team is to overcome Biarritz.
McLaughlin knows his side will have to improve on their opening Heineken Cup game and said,"We won't get half as many opportunities against Biarritz so it is important that when we have an opportunity to score, we take it."
The Ulster coach also believes that this is an opportunity for his players to test themselves against one of the best teams in Europe.
McLaughlin continued, “We want to go across to France and prove that they are capable of winning against a team that was in the Heineken Cup final last year".
"This is an opportunity to show that we have improved since last year,” added the Ulster coach.
Without Cave and Smith this will be a difficult task, but it will be the forward battle that decides the outcome of this match.
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