Celtic League news: Embryonic tables have a habit of throwing up unlikely early-season pacesetters. Admittedly, the sight of defending champions Ulster atop the Magners Celtic League table after two excellent wins in the absence of seven established first-teamers reaffirms their title credentials but it is the presence of Connacht just behind them, as the only other side with two wins out of two, which will raise more eyebrows than anything else.
It is highly unlikely Connacht will stay there, but the longer they can maintain their momentum the better their long-term prospects of qualifying for next season's Heineken European Cup for the first time, be it as one of Ireland's three entries or by dint of the one-off Celtic-Italian qualifier through finishing above the fourth Welsh and third Scottish team.
Connacht were hopeful the switch to a Friday evening slot at the Sportsground would help boost their support base. They followed up their opening victory at the Borders with a gritty 15-10 win over a star-studded Ospreys last Friday, the first of six consecutive Friday games at the Galway venue with a 6.30pm kick-off.
The attendance was estimated to be about 1,500, and coach Michael Bradley stressed the importance of the crowd's role in the 15-10 victory over Ospreys. "It was superb on Friday night the way the supporters got right behind the side . . . That backing has to be worth a score or two."
The Connacht squad for Friday's game shows just one change. Darren Yapp, who was on the bench last weekend, has been ruled out with a thigh injury and his place has been taken by John Hearty.
Underlining their support for Mayo in this Sunday's All-Ireland football final, Connacht have designed a training jersey in the green and red of Mayo and will be wearing the colours this week in the build-up to the final. The Mayo centre-forward Ger Brady played professional rugby for Connacht, while his brother David played under-21 for the province, and James Gill is a former Connacht and Irish youths rugby player. Outhalf Peter Durcan provides a current link to the Mayo side as he played under-16 and minor for the county.
Having picked an unchanged side for their opening brace of wins at home to Llanelli and away to the Dragons, Ulster coach Mark McCall has made five changes to his starting line-up for this Friday's game against Edinburgh at Murrayfield.
Isaac Boss, Rory Best and Bryan Young have been released by the Irish management and go straight into the starting line-up, as does Kieron Dawson after a couple of appearances on the bench following his return home from London Irish, and lock Matt McCullough. He replaces Justin Harrison (calf), who is expected to be fit next week, and in his absence Rory Best emulates his brother Simon in captaining Ulster.
McCullough starts his first match after a couple of replacements' appearances following his recovery from a car crash in Canada while holidaying with team-mates Andrew Maxwell and Roger Wilson after the Churchill Cup.
Ulster have also announced a new IT partnership with Newtownabbey-based Northgate Information Solutions.
Christian Cullen and Ian Dowling return from injury to the Munster squad for their match away to last season's bogey side Glasgow on Friday, as do Anthony Horgan, Alan Quinlan, Mick O'Driscoll and Anthony Foley after their release by Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan.
Leinster will today announce their squad for their first home league game against Cardiff on Saturday, and it is expected Keith Gleeson, Denis Hickie and Girvan Dempsey will be made available by the Irish management.
England centre Stuart Abbott has been banned for three weeks by the English RFU. Abbott, who joined Harlequins from Wasps earlier this year, will be unavailable until October 3rd.Abbott was cited for a dangerous tackle on London Irish scrumhalf Paul Hodgson at Twickenham 11 days ago. Referee David Rose sin-binned Abbott but the player was then reported by independent citing officer Peter Larter.
ULSTER: B Cunningham; M Bartholomeusz, P Steinmetz, P Wallace; A Maxwell; D Humphreys, I Boss; J Fitzpatrick, R Best (Capt), B Young, T Barker, M McCullough, S Ferris, K Dawson, R Wilson. Replacements: P Shields, T Court, L Stevenson, N McMillan, K Campbell, K Maggs, S Young.
CONNACHT SQUAD: J Fogarty, B Wilkinson, A Flavin, S Knoop, M Diffley, M Swift, A Farley, D Gannon, B O'Connor, C Rigney, M Lacey, J Muldoon, M McHugh, D Riordan, J Hearty, C Keane, T Tierney, G Williams, P Warwick, K Matthews, C McPhillips, M Mostyn.
MUNSTER SQUAD: S Payne, C Cullen, D Hurley, M Lawlor, I Dowling, T Gleeson, J Kelly, J Downey, A Horgan, E Hickey, J Manning, T O'Leary, G Hurley, D Hurley; F Pucciariello, D Hurley, T Ryan, F Sheahan, A Kyriacou, D Ryan, C Wyatt, M O'Driscoll, S O'Connor, A Quinlan, J Coughlan, J O'Sullivan, B Cuttriss, T McGann, A Foley.
