"He's a fair coach. That's all you can ask," said Craig Gilroy this week. The Irish and Ulster winger was referring to Ireland coach Joe Schmidt, his view one that many of the players on the Irish and provincial squads share.
Injury ruled Gilroy out of the November Test series and, not unlike Simon Zebo in Munster, he has struggled to play his way back into Schmidt's thinking, with Dave Kearney and Andrew Trimble now holding the shirts.
"I'm fully fit now and I'm good to go again and I'm just looking forward to playing for Ulster and be in with a shout again maybe for the Six Nations, " said Gilroy.
In that vein the 22-year-old will have another chance to impress tonight against Scarlets as coach Mark Anscombe again rejigs the team to accommodate his Irish contingent, some of whom need game time.
Favoured position
Gilroy starts in his favoured wing position as Ulster seek to keep their statistics tidy. They have lost just once in Belfast in the last 12 months, 12-13 to Glasgow in September. Paddy Jackson returns after an off-the-bench try and a conversion against Wales and partners Ruan Pienaar while Jared Payne shifts to fullback, allowing Darren Cave and Luke Marshall team up in the centre positions.
Rory Best and Chris Henry are rested after two Six Nations matches, while the injured Tommy Bowe and Dan Tuohy are also unavailable. Tuohy’s injury particularly should spark possibilities for Ian Henderson. The hugely-talented forward may be short on experience but has enormous potential and tonight teams up with captain Johann Müller in the secondrow.
Scarlets coach Simon Easterby has made just two changes to the side that beat Treviso last week with Wales prop Samson Lee released from squad duty and John Snyman coming into the secondrow. "We need to be as good as we've been when at our best this season to secure a victory," said Easterby. That's true and Scarlets will take their 17-9 win in Parc y Scarlets earlier this season with them to Ravenhill. Not all statistics are useless and Easterby will know his side have to go back to 2008 for their last Belfast win.
