Afoa ‘in good shape’ for Ulster debut
Afoa packs down in the front-row alongside Ireland duo Rory Best and Tom Court, just over 72 hours since arriving in the north.
“I’m over here now and want to play against Connacht tonight and get some game time and then looking forward to play against Clermont the following week,” said the six foot 19 stone tight-head Afoa who arrived Wednesday.
“It’s a new competition, a new sort of environment for me so I want to get out there and challenge myself. It’s my first time in Northern Ireland, so naturally I’m excited to have a look around and play a bit of football,” said Afoa, who described himself as being ‘in pretty good shape’ after coming off New Zealand’s World Cup triumph.
Afoa’s appearance eases the loss of South African World Cup scrum-half Ruan Pienaar who pulled up with a hamstring injury in training earlier this week. His withdrawal sees fly-half Ian Humphreys paired with his usual half-back partner Paul Marshall while coach Brian McLaughlin has gone again for Scotland’s Simon Danielli at full-back with Darren Cave partnering Paddy Wallace at half-back.
Humphreys is keen for the side to bounce back after a sluggish start to the season. He admitted: “No team wants to lose the number of games we have. We put a lot of pride into how we play and when we put on an Ulster shirt we really want to do well. We were pretty embarrassed with our performance against Treviso. In the last two games in particular there have been small issues which the opposition have capitalised on. This week has been good and a few fresh faces coming back with some enthusiasm from the World Cup. It’s time to move forward. The confidence is there, the good mood is there and the morale is there. Everyone is looking forward to getting back in front of our home crowd and playing the way we know we can.”
Connacht coach Eric Elwood has made six changes from Cardiff match with a new centre partnership of Gavin Duffy and Dave McSharry — who, along with Tiernan O’Halloran and debutant Eoghan Grace, is one of three development players in the starting side. The visitors also have a new half back pairing of Paul O’Donohoe and Miah Nikora.
Assistant Connacht coach Dan McFarland predicts a hard hitting clash. He said: “Battles between Connacht and Ulster are always very physical. Ulster have a strong set piece, play a structured game, but operate at a huge tempo which we will have to match. We had a good game up there last year, and last weekend we did enough to win against a quality side like Cardiff, but for four minutes of poor play. Historically the odds are not good, but we know we have the ability to win if we can match them, cut out the errors, and kick our points.
ULSTER: S Danielli; A Trimble; D Cave, P Wallace, C Gilroy; I Humphreys, P Marshall; T Court, R Best, J Afoa, J Muller (capt), D Tuohy, S Ferris, C Henry, P Wannenburg.
Replacements: A Kyriacou, P McAllister, A Macklin, L Stevenson, R Diack, I Porter, N Spence, A D’Arcy.
CONNACHT: T O’Halloran, F Vainikolo, G Duffy (C), D McSharry, B Tuohy, M Nikora, P O’Donohoe; B Wilkinson, A Flavin, R Ah You, M Swift, M McCarthy, TJ Anderson, E Grace, G Naoupu.
Replacements: E Reynecke, R Loughney, D Rogers, D Gannon, J Muldoon, F Murphy, N O’Connor, M Jarvis.
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