Rugby:Adam D'Arcy's pre-season form has earned the Australian a one-year contract with Ulster. The fullback has been on trial with the northern province and will start tonight's Magners League curtain-raiser against the Ospreys.
With Andrew Trimble out of action until the end of October with a broken finger, Ulster have also brought in Paul Emerick on a short-term deal. The American international has agreed a three-month contract at Ravenhill.
Ulster face an immediate test of their new-found optimism and heightened ambitions when the champions pitch up in Belfast later this evening. It was the Ospreys’ bonus point victory here which helped propel them to completing a clean sweep of four wins on Irish soil in last May’s Grand Final at the RDS.
The home crowd will have decidedly mixed feelings that Tommy Bowe, scorer of the bonus point try that night, is not amongst the star-studded Ospreys. Despite missing a dozen players in total, they are still able to name a side containing 10 internationals.
Up front, there is no change to the starting line-up that defeated Leeds in the final pre-season friendly last week.
In the absence of ??, Connacht coach Eric Elwood has handed Frank Murphy the captaincy as they prepare to face the Newport Gwent Dragons tomorrow. Sean Cronin and Gavin Duffy, both tourists with Ireland in the summer, both start while newcomer Ezra Taylor is named at number eight.
Ulster:A DArcy; T Seymour, D Cave, I Whitten, D McIlwaine; N O'Connor, P Marshall; B Young, R Best, D Fitzpatrick, J Muller, T Barker, S Ferris, W Faloon, P Wannenburg.
Replacements:N Brady, T Court, P McAllister, R Caldwell, R Diack, I Porter, P Wallace, J Shiels.
Ospreys:G Owen; N Walker, S Parker, A Bishop, R Fussell; D Biggar, J Nutbrown; R Bevington, M Davies, C Mitchell, I Gough, I Evans, J Collins, M Holah, J Thomas.
Replacements:H Bennett, P James, C Griffiths, J Goode, B Lewis, R Webb, Lee Byrne, S Williams.
Connacht(v Dragons): 15 G Duffy; T Nathan, N Taauso, K Matthews, F Carr; I Keatley, F Murphy; B Wilkinson, S Cronin, J Hagan; M Swift, B Upton; M McCarthy, R Ofisa, E Taylor.
Replacements:A Flavin, R Loughney, R Sweeney, D Nolan, M McComish, C Willis, M Nikora, T OHalloran.