Guinness Pro 14

by Tom Pritchard

CARDIFF Blues travel to Belfast to face Ulster in the Guinness Pro 14 tonight looking for their first win for nine years.

The teams last met in December 2018, when Dan McFarland’s side claimed a narrow 16-12 victory at the Kingspan Stadium.

The Blues’ last victory at the ground formerly known as Ravenhill came in a 33-24 success in April 2010, with Casey Laulala, Xavier Rush and Dafydd Hewitt crossing for scores.

John Mulvihill’s side, currently fifth in Conference B, have lost two of their opening three games in the competition, with their solitary win coming against Southern Kings in the opening round.

Ulster have a slightly better record, with their only defeat – a heavy 63-26 reverse away at Cheetahs – sandwiched between wins against the Ospreys and the Kings.

Team news

The Arms Park side will be without wing Owen Lane, who was recently called up to Wales’ Rugby World Cup squad after Blues team mate Josh Navidi suffered a hamstring injury. The 21-year-old flyer scored 11 tries in 18 appearances last season.

Despite Ireland being knocked out of the World Cup by New Zealand last weekend, Ulster will be without their Irish internationals for this game.

Outside-half Billy Burns will captain Ulster for the first time in a competitive game.

Cardiff Blues have made four changes to the side which lost to Glasgow last time out, with captain Nick Williams returning to his former stomping ground.

Williams is one of three changes to the pack, with hooker Liam Belcher packing down alongside Brad Thyer and Scott Andrews, who is set to make his first start of the season.

Jason Harries comes in on the wing to deputise for Lane, with centre Willis Halaholo in line to play his 50th game in the Guinness Pro 14.

Utility back Will Addison returns for his first game since January, taking his place at full-back in an Ulster side which shows five changes to the one that beat Kings in the previous round.

Addison is joined in the starting line-up by front-rows Jack McGrath and John Andrew, as well as centre James Hume and lock Kieran Treadwell. Matt Faddes, Eric O’Sullivan and Sam Carter take their place on the replacements bench.

The head-to-head record

After meeting for the first time in 1995, the sides have played each other on 30 occasions.

Ulster edge the head-to-head record with 16 wins to Cardiff Blues’ 13, with the only draw coming back in April 2017.

The Belfast side, who won their only league title back in 2005/06, have won six of the last 10 meetings between the sides.

What the coaches said

Cardiff Blues head coach Mulvihill has highlighted the positives that he has seen in the opening three games, as he looks for his team to start converting performances into results.

“Results-wise, we’ve been disappointed, but there’s aspects of our play in all three games which have been really encouraging, and we can be positive travelling to Belfast.

“We have identified the areas we needed to work on, and we’ve been pleased with the work on the training ground over the past two weeks.”

Jared Payne, the Ulster defence coach, is expecting a tough test on Friday evening: “The boys have been looking forward to getting back out on home soil.

“Cardiff Blues are a good team with some dangerous threats across the board. We’ll need to front up from early on.”

Who’s in charge?

Mike Adamson of the Scottish Rugby Union will have the whistle for this game, his 38th Championship appearance.

His assistants will be Sean Gallagher (IRFU) and Dave Sutherland (SRU), with former referee Neil Paterson (SRU) the Television Match Official.

The teams

Ulster: 15. Will Addison, 14. Craig Gilroy, 13. Luke Marshall, 12. James Hume, 11. Louis Ludik, 10. Billy Burns (C), 9. John Cooney; 1. Jack McGrath, 2. John Andrew, 3. Tom O’Toole, 4. Alan O’Connor, 5. Kieran Treadwell, 6. Matthew Rea, 7. Sean Reidy, 8. Marcell Coetzee

Replacements: 16. Adam McBurney, 17. Eric O’Sullivan, 18. Ross Kane, 19. Sam Carter, 20. Nick Timoney, 21. David Shanahan, 22. Bill Johnston, 23. Matt Faddes

Cardiff Blues: 15. Matthew Morgan, 14. Jason Harries, 13. Garyn Smith, 12. Willis Halaholo, 11. Aled Summerhill, 10. Jarrod Evans, 9. Lloyd Williams; 1. Brad Thyer, 2. Liam Belcher, 3. Scott Andrews, 4. Josh Turnbull, 5. Rory Thornton, 6. Will Boyde, 7. Olly Robinson, 8. Nick Williams (C)

Replacements: 16. Kristian Dacey, 17. Corey Domachowski, 18. Keiron Assiratti, 19. Seb Davies, 20. Shane Lewis-Hughes, 21. Lewis Jones, 22. Jason Tovey, 23. Harri Millard