The big clash in the URC this weekend is in Belfast, as Munster travel to play Ulster on Friday night. It is a first interpro for a Munster team coming off the back of a 45-14 hammering of the Dragons in Cork.
Meanwhile Ulster suffered a narrow defeat in Galway last week, having led 20-3 early in the second half, Connacht mounted a comeback and a combination of Jack Carty's cross field kick and Diarmuid Kilgallen's finishing saw Ulster come out on the wrong side of a 22-20 thriller at the Sports Ground.
Munster Team News
With the sad news of Andrew Conway's retirement, as well as Keith Earls, it feels like a changing of the guard for Munster. They have had the opportunity to showcase a lot of their young talent to start this season. With players like Alex Kendellan, Ben O'Connor, Brian Gleeson, John Hodnett, Calvin Nash and their two huge second rows in Edwin Edogbo and Thomas Ahern, along with Craig Casey and Jack Crowley returning from World Cup duties, Munster look to be on the verge of a somewhat golden generation. With Jean Kleyn not back until late November and RG Snyman ruled out for a few months at least, they once again ask this very talented but inexperienced group of players to produce the goods.
There is still some great experience there for Munster in the form of their starting props, John Ryan and Jeremy Loughman. With Munster buoyed by the reports of Oli Jäger potentially joining the province, they will look to target the Ulster scrum all evening.
Of Ulster's four selected props for Friday night, only one has more than 20 caps for the province, while John Ryan has a greater cap total for Munster than the four Ulster props combined. The arrival of South African World Cup winner Steven Kitshoff couldn't come too soon for Ulster.
📢 TEAM NEWS | Here is your Munster side to face Ulster tomorrow night in Belfast 🙌
Fineen Wycherley starts on his 100th appearance & Diarmuid Barron captains Munster for the 1st time 💪
Click the pic for full details.#ULSvMUN #URC #SUAF 🔴— Munster Rugby (@Munsterrugby) November 9, 2023
Ulster Team News
Ulster will have a lot to be positive about after last week's performance, despite the result. They have also seen the emergence of some of their young talent over the past 3 weeks and some players really starting to grow in to their leadership roles. David McCann, Stewart Moore, Tom Stewart (who captains the side this evening), Jake Flannery and Ethan Mcilroy all starting the season well. A big loss tonight will be James Hume, who was at the heart of everything Ulster well last week, especially in defence. They will welcome the return of four key players this week at the Kingspan. With Stuart McCloskey set to resume his place as the starting inside centre, with Iain Henderson, Dave Ewers and Rob Herring primed to be released off the bench.
If called upon, Herring will become Ulster's most capped player on Friday night. An accomplishment which underpins just how much the 33 year old has given to the province and Ireland since arriving at Ulster in 2012.
📣 Team News
Your Ulster side to take on @Munsterrugby tomorrow! 🔥
✨ Tom Stewart captains the side
☘️ The Ireland boys are back
2️⃣ 3️⃣ 0️⃣ Rob Herring in line to break our appearance record
🎟️ | https://t.co/yBwK8q5bei pic.twitter.com/WJenjS7rXQ— Ulster Rugby (@UlsterRugby) November 9, 2023
Stephen Ferris's analysis
Stephen Ferris spoke before tonight's big derby and referenced Ulster's poor stretch of form when it comes to inter provincial matches in recent times;
I think I might be right in saying Ulster have lost four interpros in a row. Obviously the last two being against Connacht, last week and the quarter final, then Munster came up to Belfast and won, then they lost away to Leinster when they had that big lead as well and they threw that away. The last thing you want to do is go five on the bounce especially in your own backyard.
The former Ulster blindside was glowing in his assessment of Munster's style of play:
It's a changing squad, they're playing a great dynamic style of rugby. The Craig Casey try last week against the Dragons epitomised what they're trying to do. Thomas Ahern got an offload to Edogbo who got another offload away and one more pass, Casey was in for the try. I thought that was indicative of how they were trying to go about their business.
Ferris went on to state how he was impressed with Ulster's performance last week, despite the result;
It's not an unbelievably strong side for Ulster but it wasn't last week either against Connacht and they played bloody well. They played really well for large parts of that game. They look a bit better without the ball also which had been a concern of mine, just leaking too many easy scores. They seemed to tighten that up a lot against Connacht.
Ferris, who was a key part of Ireland's 2009 Grand Slam, pointed out his confidence in Ulster's revived bench with a few big names returning;
Big Dave Ewers has found himself on the bench alongside Iain Henderson so even if it is tight at the 50 minute mark you've got those guys to close a game out. John Cooney's back on the bench and big Jude Postlethwaite, who can cover all the backs positions is a real star in the making.
The former Lions flanker, reserved most of his praise for one particular Munster back rower;
One guy that probably impressed me the most out of all last weekend's games was Brian Gleeson. 19 years of age, a head on him like a breezeblock, hands on him that were a ridiculous size. That fella is gonna be one of the world-class back rowers. He really, really is. He's on the bench this weekend, hopefully he'll get some game time and hopefully he doesn't get the winning score to beat Ulster in Belfast. He was really impressive last week and there's just such a good young crop of players at Munster at the minute who are going really well. Hopefully they continue to do so.
Ulster v Munster kicks off at the Kingspan Stadium at 19:35 on Friday 10th November.
