Wallace misses chance to put down Ireland marker

PADDY WALLACE will sit out Saturday’s Magners League derby against Leinster at Ravenhill.

It robs Wallace of a possible chance to face Gordon D’Arcy in the race to fill one of the midfield slots in Ireland’s autumn series.

Wallace comes under the 2011 World Cup player-management programme and his individual work plan sees him miss out on coach Brian McLaughlin’s 25-man squad with young Academy player Jonny Shiels named instead.

Also missing out on a starting position for the same reason is Lions flanker Stephen Ferris so McLaughlin could give a rare start to New Zealand signing Tamaiti Horua.

Ulster’s other internationals are expected to start when McLaughlin names his side tomorrow with Tom Court impressing at loose-head and Andrew Trimble continuing his return to top form on the left wing.

“It’s been a long time since Ulster had the better of Leinster and I think the present squad here has the ability to bounce back after that disappointing defeat in Edinburgh ,” said McLaughlin.

“I certainly think this team has the ability to put in a massive performance. We did it after the Dragons defeat when we went to the Ospreys and won well, and there is no reason why we cannot do the same on Saturday.

“We are playing the European champions and the team at the top of the Magners League and that is as big an incentive as they need. It’s an age-old game, one that sparks the memory of days gone by and it is something that we can really get our teeth into.

McLaughlin was not too hard on the side after the downer at Murrayfield, but said that they looked at particular areas that caused the problems. “We certainly were not happy at the set pieces and our general accuracy at the breakdown was poor. We just didn’t get our hands on the ball in the second half after building up a useful 16-6 lead. We just fell away and the team know that.”

ULSTER squad (forwards): N Brady, BJ Botha, R Caldwell, T Court, B Young, E O’Donoghue, S Ferris, A Kyriacou, D Tuohy, R Diack, C Henry, W Faloon, T Horua, D Fitzpatrick.

(Backs): T Nagusa, D Cave, N O’Connor, S Danielli, I Whitten, P Marshall, I Boss, A Trimble, I Humphreys, C Schifcofske, J Shiels.