Magners League: After the hurly burly of the Heineken Cup on Sunday, the focus reverts to the Magners League for Irish rugby this weekend. Ulster are the first of the provinces to announce their squad with head coach Matt Williams able to call upon the services of Stephen Ferris.
The dynamic backrow has been out of action since dislocating a finger in the early stages of Ireland’s Grand Slam win at the Millennium Stadium but is available for Friday’s trip to Glasgow.
Ferris’s return is tempered somewhat by the continued absence of backs Bryn Cunningham and Paul Steinmetz.
With just three games remaining and the possibility, on paper at least, of being caught by Connacht, Williams has demanded an improved showing from his charges following defeat at the hands of the Opsreys last time out.
“I was bitterly disappointed with our last performance,” explained the Australian. “We lost another game we should have won. We cannot talk our way out of it, or make excuses for how we played. Once again we were leading heading into the last ten minutes, and lost a game we shouldn’t have.
“Every player knows they have to put in a performance against Glasgow, both individually and as a team. Glasgow are a powerful side, who will be out for the home win, so we must be 100 per cent on our game until the final whistle blows.
“Our focus is to take back the points we lost against Ospreys, and show what we are really capable of. This will be a week of solid match preparation. The players all know that they have to stand up and perform come Friday,” he concluded.
Warriors head coach, Sean Lineen, named an unchanged starting XV. The Warriors' last outing was the 38-21 six try rout away to Scarlets and Lineen is looking for much of the same from his charges.
"It was a fantastic result a fortnight ago," said Lineen. "We scored some great tries, but we can't afford to dwell on that too much.
"We've got four big games left this season, two of which are at home, so it's vital that the crowd play their part and really get behind the players. Our target this season was to improve on our fifth place finish last year and we're so close to achieving that."
Utility back Colin Gregor retains his position at fullback having slotted four conversions at the Parc Y Scarlets to exceed 250 points in his six-year career with Glasgow.
Centre Andrew Henderson makes the match 22 for the first time following the broken hand which he sustained during Glasgow's Heineken Cup win over Toulouse in January.
Ulster Squad: R Best, B Botha, N Brady, R Caldwell, T Court, R Diack, C Del Fava, S Ferris, C Henry, M McCullough, D Pollock, D Roach, B Young; I Boss, D Cave, S Danielli, I Humphreys, P Marshall, T Nagusa, N O'Connor, C Schifcofske, A Trimble, P Wallace, I Whitten
Glasgow team: C Gregor, L Fa'atau, M Evans, G Morrison, T Evans, R Jackson, M McMillan, K Tkachuk, D Hall, M Low, T Barker, A Kellock (C), J Eddie, J Barclay, K Brown. Replacements: F Thomson, E Kalman, D Turner, C Forrester, D Parks, A Henderson, B Stortoni
