Van der Merwe aware he’ll ‘have to step it up’

Ulster’s big Springbok lock Franco van der Merwe knows the score. With second-row partners dropping like flies, he knows he will have to step up to the plate in what will be his first taste of European rugby when Neil Doak’s men head to Welford Road to face the Leicester Tigers.

With the injured Dan Tuohy and Iain Henderson long-term absentees and now the banned Alan O’Connor sidelined for three weeks, Lewis Stevenson packs down alongside Van der Merwe for his first start this season.

The promotion of Stevenson is one of three changes from that win over Glasgow last week with Andrew Trimble absent due to a toe injury, Craig Gilroy returning to the left wing and Tommy Bowe switching to the right. Ireland fly-half Paddy Jackson returns to number 10 in place of Ian Humphreys who drops out of the match-day squad.