Ulster boss trusts Afoa to bring A game

Mark Anscombe admits that John Afoa’s preparations for Saturday’s crucial Heineken Cup quarter-final against Saracens at Twickenham have been far from ideal.

However, the Ulster coach has backed his powerhouse tighthead to hit the ground running against the English giants, despite the fact that the World Cup winner will have just recently returned from New Zealand.

The 29-year old Afoa returned home late last week to attend the birth of his third child, missing the RDS defeat of Leinster, and will not return to training until tomorrow at the club’s Newforge base.

“Look, its not ideal,” said Anscombe yesterday. “I’d be kidding if I said it was but John is as professional a rugby player that’s going. He looks after himself. He knows his body. He’s been around a long time and he’s confident.

“There’s not a lot of people you would trust to do what he’s done but he’s one man I do trust to do it. He’s already texted a number of the boys about (having) another child, a girl. He’s talking about the excitement of this Saturday so he’s up for it. He’s a big match player. He’s important for us and there’s no question he’ll be up for it come Saturday.”

Anscombe all but produced Afoa’s CV by way of buttressing his point, ticking off the prop’s 100-plus Super Rugby appearances for Auckland and his World Cup medal, and his input is seen as crucial against a Saracens team renowned for its grunt.

That steel has often been talked up at the expense of an ability to rack up the tries with a back line that boasts talent such as Chris Ashton, Brad Barritt and David Strettle but the big question is whether Charlie Hodgson or Owen Farrell starts at ten.

“Who knows,” said Anscombe. “They are both quality and they both bring different things. Farrell will definitely be out there, he is a world class goal-kicker. He has a cool head, he has the composure, he has shown that since a young age.

“And Hodgson is most probably the first-five I would most highly rate in England. He is still playing some outstanding rugby. They are spoiled for choice and they may accommodate both of them. We are aware of what they are capable of, so we have to spend a bit more time making sure we get our game right.”

Ulster will approach the fixture with their tails up thanks to the result in Dublin which brought a run of unenviable results to an end with opportune timing and one which served as the ideal dry run for their task in London.

The northerners outscored their hosts two tries to nil and had to roll up their sleeves and withstand a late surge to claim the four points and the cherry on top was a debrief which threw up no new injury worries.

It will be Ulster’s first time visiting the venue since last May’s heavy defeat to Leinster in the final but it means more visiting fans can be accommodated and there will be no onus on the Irish side to adapt to Saracens’ unfamiliar artificial surface at Allianz Park.