Cave the only casualty from Ulster squad

Ulster have named a 34-man squad ahead of Saturday's winner-takes-all Heineken Cup clash against ASM Clermont Auvergne at the Stade Marcel Michelin (3.40pm).

Centre Darren Cave will miss the trip after he picked up a foot injury in Friday’s win over Leicester Tigers at Ravenhill. He is likely to be out for six weeks with ligament damage.

There are no other fresh injuries from the weekend and Paddy McAllister is back in contention for selection after missing the previous three games through injury.

Nevin Spence has been back at training for over a week and will compete with Ian Whitten to partner Paddy Wallace in Cave’s absence.

Clermont haven’t lost at Stade Marcel Michelin since November 2009, highlighting the difficulty of the task facing Ulster.

Provisional Ulster Squad:

Forwards:

Callum Black, Tom Court, Adam Macklin, John Afoa, Jerry Cronin, Paddy McAllister, Andi Kyriacou, Nigel Brady, Rory Best, Lewis Stevenson, Johann Muller (captain), Dan Tuohy, Tim Barker, Neil McComb, Stephen Ferris, Pedrie Wannenburg, Willie Faloon, Mike McComish, Chris Henry, Robbie Diack

Backs:

Paul Marshall, Ruan Pienaar, Ian Porter, Ian Humphreys, Paddy Jackson, Paddy Wallace, Ian Whitten, Nevin Spence, Stefan Terblanche, Craig Gilroy, Simon Danielli, Conor Gaston, Andrew Trimble, Adam D’Arcy

Unavailable due to injury:

Declan Fitzpatrick, Jared Payne, Peter Nelson, Darren Cave