Jordi Murphy will make his first appearance in an Ulster jersey on Friday night after being named to start in the back row against Edinburgh.
The Ireland international is among four new faces in the team, all of which will be in the forward pack when the game kicks off at 7.35pm in the Kingspan Stadium.
Jordi Murphy acting as water carrier for Ulster during their PRO14 opener against Scarlets last week. Pic: Sportsfile
Fellow international Rob Herring will line out for the first time this season and will captain the side from hooker.
Ross Kane (tighthead prop) and Kieran Treadwell (second row) are the other newcomers, while Andrew Warwick and Iain Henderson are retained alongside them in the front five.
Murphy is joined in the back row by Springbok powerhouse Marcell Coetzee and dynamic young number 8, Nick Timoney.
The backline remains unchanged; John Cooney and Billy Burns continue in the half back positions, last week’s Man of the Match Stuart McCloskey is paired in midfield with Darren Cave, and Craig Gilroy, Henry Speight and Will Addison make up the back three.
Wiehahn Herbst, who missed the end of last season with a knee injury, is set to play his first game of the season after being named among the replacements.
Al O’Connor and Sean Reidy move to the bench, while the young front row pair of Adam McBurney and Eric O’Sullivan, who produced impressive showings off the bench against Scarlets, are again among the forward replacements.
Dave Shanahan, Angus Curtis and Angus Kernohan, the latter of whom was added to the Ulster Academy earlier this week, are the backline reinforcements.
Ulster team to play Edinburgh: W Addison; C Gilroy, D Cave, S McCloskey, H Speight; B Burns, J Cooney; A Warwick, R Herring (captain), R Kane , K Treadwell, I Henderson, M Coetzee, J Murphy, N Timoney
Replacements: A McBurney, E O’Sullivan, W Herbst, A O’Connor, S Reidy, D Shanahan, A Curtis, A Kernohan.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
