URC: Ulster v Cardiff, Kingspan Stadium, kick-off 7.35 (live on RTÉ and Premier Sports)
With Storm Eunice ensuring that there was no bonus point to be had from winning at the Dragons, Ulster will be eager to extract the maximum return when Cardiff rack up at fortress Kingspan on Friday night.
Difficult looking encounters with Leinster next weekend, albeit also at the Kingspan, followed by a challenging two-game South African tour are looming large for Dan McFarland’s side, making winning tonight, and ideally doing it well, a clearly preferable outcome.
Second-placed Ulster are on a five-game winning streak in all competitions so making the half-dozen will be in their sights and that, aligned to Cardiff’s difficulties in simply playing - they have not togged out since beating Leinster in late January in a badly disrupted campaign - should put the northern province in the box seat.
McFarland has also been boosted by the rare availability of skipper Iain Henderson, his injury-hit season taking a new twist when he was stood down last week by Ireland over contracting Covid, while Jordi Murphy is finally back in the side for his first taste of action this campaign since previously being fit for last May’s Rainbow Cup.
John Cooney is also ready to go again - he last played in early January - but takes his place on the bench as the impressive Nathan Doak retains the number nine shirt.
Also benched, somewhat surprisingly, is Duane Vermeulen who did not feature last time out at Rodney Parade.
As well as Henderson having been released from Ireland camp for some vital game-time, the more familiar sight of national squad members James Hume, Robert Baloucoune and Nick Timoney are back again in Ulster colours having all put their shoulders to the wheel in the previous outing for their province at the Dragons when the conditions made the contest something pretty close to unplayable.
Murphy joins in-form back-rowers Timoney and Marcus Rea for what will be an interesting struggle against a Cardiff breakdown unit containing the returning Josh Navidi for his first involvement since October.
Cardiff have a handful of games still to play just to catch up, thanks to Covid issues and latterly Storm Eunice cancelling their clash with Zebre, and are currently 12th in the URC table.
If that wasn’t challenging enough for Dai Young’s squad, Cardiff have not win in Belfast since way back in 2010. Having said that, they will have gained confidence from getting past Leinster in their previous match.
However, unless Ulster become far too anxious about chasing five points, this should still be a home result with, or without, a try bonus.
Ulster: S Moore R Baloucoune, J Hume, S McCloskey, B Moxham, B Burns, N Doak, A Warwick, J Andrew, M Moore, A O'Connor, I Henderson (Capt), J Murphy, Marcus Rea, N Timoney.
Replacements: T Stewart, J McGrath, G Milasinovich, S Carter, D Vermeulen, J Cooney, I Madigan, A Sexton.
Cardiff Rugby: H Amos; O Lane, R Lee-Lo, W Halaholo, A Summerhill; J Evans, L Williams; B Thyer, K Myhill, D Arhip, J Turnbull (capt), M Screech, E Jenkins, J Navidi, J Botham
Replacements: K Assiratti, R Carré, W Davies-King, T Williams, J Ratti, J Hill, B Thomas, M Morgan
Referee: H Davidson (SRU)
