McLaughlin hopeful of keeping dream alive

ULSTER head to Bath on Saturday bidding for their first win on English soil to keep their Heineken Cup dream alive. Brian McLaughlin’s side need to collect a bonus-point victory at The Recreation ground, to have any chance of overhauling Stade Francais who only need a point from their travels to Edinburgh to top Pool Four.

“We said one of our aims at the start of the season was to be heading into our final pool game in the European Cup, with something to play for, and that’s exactly what we have done,” said McLaughlin.

“So all credit to the players. They have done that and they deserve to be going to Bath with something major at stake.

“Hopefully, with a good week under us and confidence levels built even higher, we can go across there and get that elusive win in England. Heineken Cup rugby is very special. It’s very important to Ulster and the players are all focused on the task ahead.

“We know how tough a challenge it is going to be playing Bath away, so we’re going over there anticipating a very hard game but we will be ready from them Saturday.

ULSTER SQUAD (Forwards): D Fitzpatrick, B Young, BJ Botha, N Brady, A Kyriacou, E O’Donoghue, D Tuohy, R Caldwell, C Henry, T Court, S Ferris, W Faloon, TJ Anderson, N McComb, D Pollock.

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