Leinster and Ulster games set to get green light

ULSTER and Leinster are confident their weekend Heineken Cup games will go ahead as scheduled at Ravenhill and the RDS.

Ulster host Edinburgh on Friday night in Belfast while Leinster face Brive in Dublin on Saturday evening.

The cold snap had led to concerns that the games would have to be moved, but sources in both camps yesterday insisted their pitches will be playable.

Ulster have put the erection of a marquee on hold in the hope the thaw will continue. It was planned to utilise industrial blowers inside the marquee to help beat the freeze. However, all snow disappeared from the ground yesterday and the pitch is rapidly thawing out.

“We’ve put our plans on hold and hopefully the pitch will soften naturally,” said a spokesperson.

“This is the preferred way, to ensure a high-quality playing surface. We are now confident the pitch will be in a good, playable condition for Friday night’s game. A ground maintenance team will be surveying the Ravenhill pitch daily. They will remove the frost covers each morning to take maximum advantage of the thaw and replace the covers each evening if necessary if there is a potential threat of a further freeze.”

The Ulster team again trained at the indoor 3G pitch at the Sports Institute of Northern Ireland at the University of Ulster at Jordanstown on Monday morning but plan to return to their normal training facilities at Newforge for the remainder of the week.

With only four points separating Pool 4 leaders Stade Français Paris (13 points) and Ulster and Edinburgh, the round 5 results could go a fair distance in determining who stays in the last eight mix.

Edinburgh won the Murrayfield match against Ulster 17-13 and also beat them in the Magners League but Warriors ace Chris Paterson insists Ulster are the form side and that past results will count for nothing in Belfast.

“This is a whole new ball game,” said Paterson, who has scored 230 points in his 56 Heineken Cup appearances and was at the heart of Edinburgh’s 21-12 Murrayfield win over Cardiff Blues at the weekend in the only Magners League game to survive the big freeze.

“Of the two of us Ulster are the ones in better form, and they will have home advantage but, having won at Ravenhill already this season, we know we are capable of going there and doing it.

“We know full well that if we lose at Ravenhill we will be as good as out. Ulster are a very physical, abrasive, big and powerful team but they are also pretty quick. The power of their game is a real threat while they now have a settled back line with Andrew Trimble and Simon Danielli dangerous out wide. We know we have performed poorly away from home so we need to sort that out and an away win on Friday would be like gold dust.”

Meanwhile, Leinster won’t be penalised following the postponement of last Friday night’s Magners League game against Glasgow Warriors. The Scottish outfit were furious they had to travel and then forced to head home without a game when the match was postponed at lunchtime on Friday.

But Celtic Rugby director David Jordan dismissed suggestions that a claim, believed to be in excess of €10,000, could be made against the Irish side and said the Scottish outfit would be compensated from central funds.

“These things have happened in the past and we have always applied the same principle; we have covered their costs on previous occasions when these situations have happened,” said Jordan.

“We have told teams that they should make every effort to get games on. Obviously, we will be reviewing what Leinster did to protect their pitch, but we have to accept that these things happen from time to time and sides have to make a judgement call.”