Ulster boosted by return of big names

Stephen Ferris, Rory Best, John Afoa, Chris Henry and Craig Gilroy have all been included in Brian McLaughlin’s extended 33 man squad for the crucial RaboDirect PRO12 game against Scarlets at Ravenhill on Friday (7.05pm).

Ferris and Best both return to the fold, having been rested against Glasgow at the weekend as part of the IRFU’s player management scheme. Henry and Gilroy are also likely to return to action this Friday, after both players were also rested in the defeat in Scotland, following their exertions so far this season.

Meanwhile All Black prop Afoa is back in the Ulster setup, having returned to New Zealand temporarily after the Heineken Cup Round 1 win over French giants Clermont Auvergne.

That means injured backline stars Ruan Pienaar, Paddy Wallace and Jared Payne are the only players unavailable for McLaughlin.

Ulster will find comfort in returning to Ravenhill this week, where they have lost only once in their last 12 encounters. Scarlets are one of the form teams in Europe at present, and are undefeated in their last eight matches in all competitions since their 10-20 loss in Treviso on 1st October.

Scarlets won 24-17 at Parc y Scarlets when the two teams met in the RaboDirect PRO12 on 29th October, but the Welshmen have not won in Ireland since a trip to Connacht on 9th January 2009.

Provisional Ulster Squad

Forwards:

P McAllister, C Black, T Court, A Macklin, J Afoa, D Fitzpatrick, J Cronin, A Kyriacou, N Brady, R Best, L Stevenson, J Muller (capt), D Tuohy, T Barker, N McComb, S Ferris, M McComish, P Wannenburg, W Faloon, C Henry, R Diack

Backs:

P Marshall, I Porter, I Humphreys, P Jackson, N Spence, L Marshall, I Whitten, D Cave, C Gilroy, S Danielli, A Trimble, A D’Arcy