Longwell to win 150th Ulster cap

GARY LONGWELL, who reached the landmark 50th Heineken Cup cap earlier this season, will win his 150th Ulster cap in Friday night’s Celtic League clash with Cardiff.

Coach Mark McCall has named an unchanged back line from that which defeated The Borders, while up front Rod Moore is drafted in to the starting XV with Simon Best switching to loose-head and Ronan McCormack dropping to the bench.

Gavin Pfister replaces Neil Best, who will be out of rugby for six weeks having sustained a broken jaw against The Borders.

With the title secured by the Neath-Swansea Ospreys, attention now turns to who will reach the quarter finals of the Celtic Cup, which takes place at the end of the regular season.

The Ospreys, Munster and Leinster, have secured their places in the knock out competition but only the Ospreys and Munster are assured a home draw. Leinster, currently third but who are not playing this weekend, along with the next six highest teams will be battling it out to secure one of the last two home ties.

With five consecutive wins at home under their belts, the Llanelli Scarlets will be pushing for a top four place when Glasgow come to Stradey Park on Saturday, however the Newport Gwent Dragons will also have top four aspirations when they face Edinburgh. The Scots have won five of their last six Murrayfield games and will also be desperate to win and keep their own cup hopes alive.

Connacht will not only have Celtic Cup but also Heineken Cup qualification on their mind when the Ospreys come to Galway. This is the champions last regular league game and amazingly they have never beaten Connacht in any of their three previous meetings.

Meanwhile, scrum-half Neil Doak will retire from representative rugby at the end of this season. Doak, a former international cricketer, made his Ulster debut in 1995 against Northern Transvaal and has accumulated 75 caps for the province as well as making eight appearances for Ireland A.

Doak will return to a position within the IRFU Ulster Branch as a High Performance Coach with a responsibility for elite players at Academy Level 1 (16-19 year olds) and hopes to continue playing club rugby.

Leicester’s Heineken Cup semi-final against Toulouse will be held at Leicester City’s Walkers Stadium on Sunday April 24.

The Tigers earned the advantage of having their semi-final staged at a neutral English venue with a comprehensive victory over Leinster.

And tournament organisers European Rugby Cup Ltd (ERC) confirmed today that the match will be played at the 32,000-capacity stadium. Kick-off will be at 3.30pm.

Leicester City chief executive Tim Davies said: “We’re delighted the Walkers has been chosen to stage such a prestigious event.

“It will prove to be an historic occasion and the match will mark another sporting first for the stadium with the staging of an international club rugby fixture.

ULSTER (v Cardiff): B. Cunningham; T. Bowe; K. Maggs; P. Steinmetz; T. Howe; D. Humphreys; K. Campbell; S. Best; P. Shields; R. Moore; G. Longwell; M. McCullough; A. Ward (capt), G. Pfister, R. Wilson

Replacements: N. Brady; R. McCormack; R. Frost; C Feather; N. Doak; P. Wallace; A N Other.