Ulster reveal squad for Cardiff clash

Paddy Wallace, Tom Court and Chris Henry have been released from Ireland duty and will join the starting 15 along with Nigel Brady, who replaces Andi Kyriacou.

Brady, Court and John Afoa will form the front row, while Lewis Stevenson and Dan Tuohy continue their partnership at lock with captain Johann Muller still sidelined through injury.

In the back row, Willie Faloon and Robbie Diack are joined by stand-in skipper Chris Henry. Mike McComish makes way despite a solid performance in the win over Dragons last weekend.

Wallace's return to inside centre has resulted in a number of positional changes across the backline.

Nevin Spence moves out one to take up the No. 13 position, with Ian Whitten moving to the wing and Stefan Terblanche starting at fullback.

On the bench will be Paul Marshall, Simon Danielli and Adam D'Arcy.

Jared Payne, Declan Fitzpatrick, Darren Cave, Pedrie Wannenburg, Johann Muller and Ali Birch are all unavailable due to injury.

Ulster coach Brian McLaughlin said the return of three players from the Irish squad means others miss out.

He said:"It shows the strength of the squad that we are building when players like Mike [McComish] and Adam [D'Arcy], who have proved themselves at this level, aren't in the team. But that provides challenges for those players and for everyone else in the squad.

"The competition for places should motivate the players to continue improving."

The Ulster coach is under no illusions about the difficult task ahead.

"This is a very important match for us given the position the two teams occupy in the league. There isn't much between us so I suppose you could say it's an 8-pointer.

"But we're playing well at the minute and if we play like we have done over the past few weeks, we have a good chance of coming back with the result," said McLaughlin.

The Ulster squad is -

(15-9): S Terblanche; C Gilroy, N Spence, P Wallace, I Whitten; I Humphreys, R Pienaar;

(1-8): T Court, N Brady, J Afoa, L Stevenson, D Tuohy, C Henry (capt), W Faloon, R Diack;

Replacements (16-23): A Kyriacou, P McAllister, A Macklin, T Barker, M McComish, P Marshall, S Danielli, A D'Arcy