Ulster Rugby v Connacht

calendar demands the presence of frontline combatants, and the probable sight of Rory Best and Jacob Stockdale returning to the white jersey will vastly encourage the faithful. If Marcell Coetzee is also fit again and ready to build on a few emphatic ball-carrying displays in the back row that would lift expectations. Connacht arrives at Kingspan Stadium after a feisty encounter with Leinster, and new Head Coach Andy Friend is, like McFarland, determined to fashion a squad which is committed, consistent and which can recapture the resilience which saw the Province cast off its ‘whipping boy’ tag and win the Guinness PRO12 under Pat Lam’s demanding leadership. Friend is very much his own man, and having worked with Eddie Jones in the Australian system, and under Dean Richards at Harlequins, he brings a wealth of international experience to the Sportsground. He’ll hope his skipper Jarrad Butler is fit to resume in the back row, and in Quinn Roux and Ultan Dillane he has a powerful pairing at lock, while Tom Farrell and Bundee Aki have much to offer in midfield, especially if scrum-half Kieran Marmion and his partner Jack Carty are allowed the time and space to dictate the tempo. Ulster under McFarland will have confronted the realities of last week’s surrender in Limerick, but there’ll be perspective too. The team is contending in its PRO14 Conference, it has confronted uneasy truths before, and it will be determined to cull a valuable, morale-boosting win before the visit of Leicester in Europe next week. This is Ulster in development mode, but it is a squad not without immediate and longer-term ambition. Given evidence of that on the pitch the supporters in Kingspan Stadium will offer unequivocal backing. It’s Friday night in the Guinness PRO14. The nights have drawn in, but the curtain of opportunity is there to be pulled wide open. RTUNITY

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