Ulster confident

ULSTER face Aironi this afternoon confident of retaining their 100% record on Italian soil.

They tackle the men in black at the Stadio Zaffanello knowing that on four occasions last season they put 14 tries on Aironi with only one conceded.

Following their confident 28-14 win over Glasgow last week, coach Brian McLaughlin has wisely kept changes to a minimum, with the hard-working Tim Barker coming into the engine room in anticipation of a battle up front.

“The Italians play a very physical game and that will suit me,” said prop Paddy McAllister.

“We’ve been doing video analysis of them all week and no matter if you’re playing their third-string team it’s always going to be a big bruiser of a guy who’s going to be very strong and physical. We’re getting our mindset to that. We need to match their physicality and more so that’s really what we’re concentrating on.”

ULSTER: A D’Arcy; C Gilroy, D Cave, N Spence, I Whitten; I Humphreys, P Marshall; P McAllister, A Kyriacou, J Cronin, T Barker, D Tuohy, P Wannenburg, W Faloon, C Henry.

Replacements: N Brady, D Fitzpatrick, A Macklin, L Stevenson, R Diack, I Porter, P Jackson, L Marshall.