Meanwhile, uncapped Leinster back-row Will Connors has been drafted into Andy Farrell's squad.

DAN McFarland was looking forward to a day of watching rugby on the couch yesterday as the extent of the challenge awaiting Ulster in the spring slowly unfolded in front of his eyes.

Nash has been named to start on the wing as Keith Earls misses out due to a minor knee injury in one of two changes to Johann van Graan's side.

The coaching group have also named four development players who will train with the squad.

As Joey Carbery and Jacob Stockdale lined up against each other at Ravenhill, it was noted that four years ago, at the time of the 2015 World Cup, neither had made their provincial debuts.

Leinster didn’t even need to send out their first team to do this damage — Cullen made 13 changes to the side that hammered Northampton Saints last week in the Champions Cup

There's no room for Rob Kearney, Seán Cronin, Jordi Murphy, Jack Carty, John Ryan or Kieran Marmion – with newly eligible Jamison Gibson-Park jumping ahead of the Connacht man at scrum-half.

With the Six Nations kicking off in less than two months, it is the first squad meet-up since the national team returned from Japan.

Head Coaches Johann van Graan and Dan McFarland has named his side for Satuday's Guinness PRO14 Interpro derby this Saturday at Thomand Park.

Those newcomers are among five changes by Johann van Graan to the side which lost their last Pro14 game 40-16 to the Cheetahs.

The 22-year-old Tipperary-native, who scored 29 points in 12 Munster appearances, replaces Billy Burns.

Both Leinster and Ulster have named their teams ahead of their clash tomorrow at the Kingspan stadium.

Ulster have been given a boost ahead of their PRO14 encounter against Ospreys with the return of Iain Henderson from injury.

It’s somewhat ironic that at a time when rugby is enjoying an unprecedented level of popularity in this country, with the national team ranked in the top two sides in the world, the game itself faces massive challenges.

Dublin-born Eric O’Sullivan is one of a number of promising exponents of the propping dark arts now in an Ireland system that was once low on front-row forwards.

Ireland’s Jordi Murphy will make his long-awaited Ulster debut in Friday’s PRO14 clash with Edinburgh at the Kingspan Stadium following his switch from Leinster in the summer.

Ireland begin their Pool C campaign against hosts France in Perpignan next Wednesday.

A year which began with a frustrating hamstring injury which sidelined him for four months has taken a massive upward swing for newly appointed Irish U20 captain Caelan Doris.

Ulster start rookie tight-head Ross Kane against a fired-up Ospreys at the Kingspan Stadium this evening.

The prospect of an Irish U20s jersey must have seemed a distant dream to a 16-year-old Tom O’Toole, as he looked out the window of Campbell College, in Belfast, on his first night at the school, and thought about the family he had left 10,000 miles behind, in Australia.

USGA executive director Mike Davis today said he is already keen to bring the US Open back to Merion – if the club and local residents were willing to host the tournament again.

A SUPERMARKET group owner has taken over as president of Waterford Chamber of Commerce and vowed to forge closer links with other bodies in the south-east.

AS the spiritual home of the US Open, the storied Pebble Beach Golf Links seemed perhaps an incongruous place to announce the destination of a new venue on the circuit for the 2017 tournament.

ONE of the country’s most popular former Finance Ministers will be in Waterford today to launch a business programme at the county’s Institute of Technology.