Ulster ship very much on course

Ulster are familiar foes for the patrons at Leicester’s Welford Road.

Tomorrow, the sides will meet in European competition for the fifth time in just three seasons — with a sixth tête-a tête to follow in January — but the Ulster that appears before them this time is not the entity it was.

The volume of change has been profound. Director of Rugby David Humphreys has decamped for Gloucester — along with prop John Afoa — ex-head coach Mark Anscombe is back in New Zealand while former skipper Johann Muller is tending the family farm in Mossel Bay in South Africa.