Rugby

Jordi Murphy named in Ulster backrow for home debut

Ulster host Edinburgh in the Pro14 at Kingspan Stadium on Friday night (KO 7.35pm)

Ulster’s Jordi Murphy is in the team for Friday night’s match. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho

Thu Sep 6 2018 - 12:29

Jordi Murphy will make his first appearance in an Ulster jersey on Friday night after being named to start in the backrow against Edinburgh.

Ireland international Murphy is among four new faces in the team, all of which are in the forward pack.

Fellow Ireland international Rob Herring will line out for the first time this season and will captain the side from hooker. Ross Kane (tighthead prop) and Kieran Treadwell (secondrow) are the other newcomers, while Andrew Warwick and Iain Henderson are retained alongside them in the front five.

Murphy is joined in the back row by Springbok powerhouse Marcell Coetzee and dynamic young number eight, Nick Timoney.

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The backline remains unchanged; John Cooney and Billy Burns continue in the halfback positions, last week's man of the match Stuart McCloskey is paired in midfield with Darren Cave, and Craig Gilroy, Henry Speight and Will Addison make up the potent back three.

Wiehahn Herbst, who missed the end of last season with a knee injury, is set to play his first game of the season after being named among the replacements.

Al O'Connor and Sean Reidy move to the bench as head coach Dan McFarland looks to manage his playing resources.

The young frontrow pair of Adam McBurney and Eric O’Sullivan, who produced impressive showings off the bench against Scarlets, are again among the forward replacements.

Dave Shanahan, Angus Curtis and Angus Kernohan, the latter of whom was added to the academy earlier this week, are the backline reinforcements.

ULSTER: W Addison; C Gilroy, D Cave, S McCloskey, H Speight; B Burns, J Cooney; A Warwick, R Herring (captain), R Kane ; K Treadwell, I Henderson; M Coetzee, J Murphy, N Timoney.

Replacements: A McBurney, E O’Sullivan, W Herbst, A O’Connor, S Reidy, D Shanahan, A Curtis, A Kernohan.

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