Rory Best on bench as Ulster battle for bonus point

Newly-appointed Ireland skipper Rory Best will sit out the Champions Cup lunch-time date with Oyonnax as Ulster attempt to claim a bonus-point win at the Kingspan Stadium as they bid to keep their quarter-final hopes alive. Also absent are influential scrum-half Ruan Pienaar and flanker Chris Henry. Pienaar is sidelined with a virus while Henry is still suffering from the shoulder problem which ruled him out of Ireland’s Six Nations squad.

Best will be on the bench with his able deputy Rob Herring leading a side which shows four changes from the one that lost to Saracens last week. The uncapped Stuart McCloskey who was called up in Joe Schmidt’s 35-man panel, is given a well-earned rest with the fit-again Darren Cave joining Luke Marshall in midfield. Paul Marshall will again deputise for Pienaar. Wiehahn Herbst has failed to recover from a foot injury, so Richard Lutton wears the number three jersey. Nick Williams is also back in the starting line-out following a head injury in place of Roger Wilson.

Sean Reidy again deputises for Henry and the Ireland-qualified flanker is expecting a long wait over the weekend, to see if Ulster qualify as one of three best-placed pool runners-up.