RUGBY/European Cup/Ulster v London Irish, Ravenhill: 7.30, Sky Sports 3:There has been the odd column inch devoted to London Irish's post-match huddle last week, captured by the Sky cameras, in which a delighted Exiles team celebrated their 29-13 Heineken European Cup victory. Captain Mike Catt was then heard to suggest that they would go to Ravenhill and enjoy repeating the feat. John O'Sullivanreports
The sentiment will have been disconsonant to Ulster ears, but as a motivational tool it should be largely peripheral. To discover the root cause for last week's failure Ulster would be better directed looking within. The core skills simply weren't good enough and their normally abrasive defence was hesitant and, as a result, porous.
London Irish provided the game's most influential performers, particularly Argentinian number eight Juan Leguizamon, centre Seilala Mapusa and 20-year-old outhalf Shane Geraghty.
In effect, the contest between the two number 10s encapsulated the ebb and flow of the game at the Madejski Stadium.
David Humphreys has been in excellent form for Ulster all season, exceptional in several games, but six days ago he was surprisingly out of sorts.
In contrast, Geraghty offered mature direction and proved a productive pivot.
Like Declan Danaher and Nick Kennedy before him, Geraghty has chosen the English rose over the Irish shamrock and few can quibble. His father may hail from Castlebar and his brother may have played for the Ireland Under-21 team, but Shane is a product of the English underage system and has been nurtured carefully.
He is an outstanding prospect, as his underage representative career has demonstrated, and is expected to be called into the England Sevens squad soon, effectively ending his dual eligibility. He's accomplished in most facets of the game - distribution, running and kicking - and, as he showed the last day, possesses a big-match temperament.
Ulster coach Mark McCall might have been tempted to switch Paddy Wallace into outhalf at some stage the last day. The experiment would have been twofold: to see if Wallace could change the pattern of the match and also that the introduction of Kevin Maggs would have brought a greater physicality to the midfield, where Mapusa was dominating the collisions.
McCall's instructions to his team tonight will be to take the game physically to London Irish up front and employ a more judicious kicking game.
"Our aim is to deliver a better performance than we did at the weekend," he said, "recognise the areas where we need a big, big improvement and improve on those areas and be smarter in the way we play."
The fitness of right wing Tommy Bowe is a concern. Having returned for his first match the last day following a hamstring injury, he will be assessed this morning but must be considered doubtful. Mark Bartholomeusz will deputise if he fails to make it.
There is one alteration to last weekend's starting team with Justin Fitzpatrick replacing Bryan Young. Fitzpatrick produced an eye-catching display as a replacement in the first match.
London Irish coach Brian Smith has his own injury concerns, one of whom is his captain, Catt. The South African-born former England international will have a late fitness test. Argentina's Gonzalo Tiesi is ready to step in.
Right wing Sailosi Tagicakibau, a try scorer the last day, picked up an injury and is ruled out. Topsy Ojo is named in his stead, provided Ojo proves his fitness: Michael Horak is the third player in the picture for that number 14 jersey. South African Danie Coetzee starts at hooker with Robbie Russell stepping down.
"Last Saturday's game was good preparation for our visit to Ravenhill," Smith admitted. "There were almost 15,000 fans in the stadium and the Ulster section certainly made themselves heard - so we know what's coming this evening.
"The game itself was an emotional rollercoaster for all of us. Having started well we finished the first half with the double yellow cards, then we had to dig deep to keep Ulster at bay before finishing on a high with two more tries.
"Tomorrow's game at Ravenhill is winnable, we've played there and won and not too many teams can claim that. "
Ulster's European dreams are distilled into a single 80 minutes that must produce, not alone a victory, but one accompanied by a bonus point. A less inhibited London Irish will make it difficult, but providing the home side improve appreciably, they should be good enough to squeeze out a victory.
Pool Five
P W D L F A B Pts
Llanelli3 3 0 0 73 59 1 13
London Irish3 1 0 2 71 82 2 6
Toulouse3 1 0 2 59 67 2 6
Ulster3 1 0 2 58 53 1 5
ULSTER:B Cunningham; T Bowe/M Bartholomeusz, P Steinmetz, P Wallace, A Trimble; D Humphreys, I Boss; B Young, R Best, S Best (capt); M McCullough, J Harrison; N Best, K Dawson, R Wilson. Replacements:J Fitzpatrick, P Shields, T Barker, N McMillan, K Campbell, K Maggs, S Young.
LONDON IRISH:D Armitage; T Ojo/M Horak, S Mapusa, M Catt (capt)/G Tiesi, J Bishop; S Geraghty, P Hodgson; N Hatley, D Coetzee, T Lea'aetoa; N Kennedy, B Casey; K Roche, S Armitage, J Leguizamon. Replacements:M Collins, D Plaice, F Rautenbach, J Hudson, P Murphy, G Tiesi, B Everitt.
Referee:C Berdos (France).
Leading points scorers:Ulster - David Humphreys 38. London Irish - Barry Everitt 18.
Leading try scorers:Ulster - Andrew Trimble 2. London Irish - Delon Armitage 2.
Verdict:Ulster to win.
PREVIOUS RESULTS
Llanelli 20 Toulouse 19; London Irish 29 Ulster 13; Llanelli 21 Ulster 15; Toulouse 37 London Irish 17; London Irish 25 Llanelli 32; Ulster 30 Toulouse 3.
REMAINING FIXTURES
Tonight:Ulster v London Irish. Dec 16th:Toulouse v Llanelli. Jan 12th-14th:London Irish v Toulouse; Ulster v Llanelli. Jan 19th:Toulouse v Ulster; Llanelli v London Irish.
