Dan McFarland turns to youth for Ulster’s Italian date

Michael Lowry is back in the Ulster starting line-up for tonight’s crucial date with Benetton at the Kingspan Stadium.

Without a host of their international players it means that Lowry, James Hume, and Robert Baloucoune all start for the hosts with coach Dan McFarland having no fear in tossing youth into the fray behind the scrum against a side that sit two places, and two points ahead of them in Conference B. It’s heady stuff for the Italians, captained by former Leinster fly-half Ian McKinley. They will certainly not be the walkover they once were , thanks to audacious recruitment that has boosted a much-stronger squad for this very important cache of games.

Also back into the Ulster starting line-up are hooker Rob Herring and loose-head Andy Warwick with lock Alan O’Connor as captain. There is a completely new back-row with Marcell Coetzee, who leads the Ulster’s charts in tackles, turnovers, defenders beaten and carries, getting a well-earned rest. So Greg Jones, Nick Timoney and recently-recruited lock Ian Nagle packing down at blindside flanker are promoted.

Behind the scrum, Billy Burns, and David Shanahan are reunited at half-back, with Hume in the midfield and Lowry again selected at full-back.

Lowry, a player not short on confidence which he puts down to the fact that the coaching staff have full confidence in young players’ ability at senior level. “There’s a lot of caps already earned from the young players this year and that takes a bit of pressure off us,” said the79 kg speedster who became a viral sensation when he crashed Racing 92’s massive 108kg centre Leone Nakarawa to the ground in the Champions Cup.

Lowry, though, just shrugged off his heroics: “Obviously you’re going to come up against bigger men, so I think it’s just having that mental ability to switch on. I think a lot of it is technique but there is a lot of bravery as well. We got the win against Leicester, but we want to build on our performances in Europe so far, starting against Benetton. It’s all fine doing well in Europe, but we need to back it up this week.

They are a physical side with a lot of big ball-carriers, but it’s an opportunity for us to show what we can do.

ULSTER:

M Lowry; R Baloucoune, J Hume, S McCloskey, L Ludik; B Burns, D Shanahan; A Warwick, R Herring, M Moore; A O’Connor (capt), K Treadwell; I Nagle, N Timoney, G Jones.

Replacements:

J Andrew, W Herbst, T O’Toole, M Dalton, C Ross, J Stewart, D Cave, R Lyttle.

BENETTON:

L Sperandio; R Tavuyara, T Iannone, M Zanon, M Ioane; I McKinley (capt), D Duvenage; N Quaglio, H Faiva, M Riccioni; I Herbst, F Ruzza; M Lazzaroni, M Lamaro, T Halafihi.

Replacements:

T Baravalle, C Traore, S Ferrari, M Fuser, G Pettinelli, M Barbini, E Gori, I Brex.