After doing the double on South African soil this season - a first for a Northern hemisphere team in the URC - Ulster will be looking to back it up with a win in Cardiff Arms Park.
Currently sat in third place with 49 points, the Ulster men will continue their push to secure home advantage in the play-off stages, in an increasingly tightly-contested league table.
Cardiff, who ended a three-match losing streak at home by defeating Benetton 30-13 in Round 14, will be keen to get what points they can from Saturday’s game, given they are currently sat in ninth position, which puts their hopes of continuing into the knockout stages of the competition at risk.
Assistant Coach, Dan Soper, reinforced in this week’s media briefing how important table rankings are at this point in the season:
“We always want to be in control of our own destiny, and not have to look at other results when it comes to where we’re going to finish in the league. When we’re winning, it’s in our hands. We want to find ourselves in the position of having a home play-off game.”
Rob Herring returns from Ireland duty to skipper Ulster
Hooker, Rob Herring, who recently started against France for Ireland, is back from international duty to lead the Ulster men. He is joined in the front row by two fellow internationals in Scotland’s loosehead prop, Rory Sutherland, and tighthead, Jeff Toomaga-Allen, who earned three caps for Samoa in the most recent Autumn Nations series.
Ireland international, Kieran Treadwell, who was called into the Irish set-up for last week’s fixture against Italy, is named in the second row alongside Wallaby, Sam Carter.
With RBAI qualifying for the Danske Bank Schools Cup final this week, their former schoolboy captain in 2018, Dave McCann, is named in the back row alongside fellow Ulster Rugby Academy graduate, Marcus Rea, who led the URC stats for turnovers in the 2021-22 season. The Number Eight jersey belongs to Nick Timoney, who was responsible for the bonus point try last time out against Cardiff.
The pairing of Nathan Doak and Billy Burns that saw Ulster secure a 35-5 home win over the DHL Stormers in Round 13 is back together again, with the 21-year-old scrum-half responsible for scoring nine points when the Welsh men were last in Belfast.
Stewart Moore, who was crowned Player of the Match this time last year against Cardiff, is named in the midfield alongside James Hume, who was responsible for an intercept try that same night.
A young back three sees Jacob Stockdale, involved with Ireland in this year’s Guinness Six Nations campaign, link-up with Mike Lowry, who retains his place at full back from last week’s win, together with Ben Moxham who comes in as a change on the wing.
Forward replacements this week include Tom Stewart, the only player last weekend in the URC to score a brace of tries, along with Callum Reid, Gareth Milasinovich, Alan O’Connor, and one of the top tacklers from the win over the Cell C Sharks, Harry Sheridan. On the bench for the backs, John Cooney is joined by Jude Postlethwaite, who could earn his first Ulster cap if called upon, and Ethan McIlroy.
Ulster team to play Cardiff Rugby, BKT United Rugby Championship Round 15, Saturday 4 March at Cardiff Arms Park (KO 7 35pm), live on ViaPlay and URC.tv.
(15-9): Mike Lowry, Ben Moxham, James Hume, Stewart Moore, Jacob Stockdale, Billy Burns, Nathan Doak;
(1-8): Rory Sutherland, Rob Herring (Captain), Jeff Toomaga-Allen, Kieran Treadwell, Sam Carter, Dave McCann, Marcus Rea, Nick Timoney.
Replacements: Tom Stewart, Callum Reid, Gareth Milasinovich, Alan O’Connor, Harry Sheridan, John Cooney, Jude Postlethwaite, Ethan McIlroy.