A titanic struggle in store at Aviva as brave McLaughlin puts faith in youth

Forget the heroics of 1999, in picking Paddy Jackson to start at fly-half in today’s Heineken Cup semi-final with Edinburgh (5.45pm), Brian McLaughlin could not have sent out a clearer message to the Ulster faithful that his team is ready to write a new chapter in their history.

For all the Titanic commemorations and all the talk of Ulster Rugby’s last great day in the sun, with their European final victory over Colomiers at Lansdowne Road 13 years ago, people in the northern province may have wondered if they were locked in some sort of bittersweet timewarp these past weeks. The sight of the 20-year-old Jackson running out at the Aviva Stadium this evening (5.45pm) will bring them right back into 2012.

McLaughlin sprung the one selection surprise of the semi-finals when he chose Ulster’s biggest day since that 1999 season to hand the Ireland Under-20 captain his first Heineken Cup start at the expense of regular number 10 Ian Humphreys.