A deep dive into the Ulster Rugby debutants as they face the Bulls
Richie Murphy is looking to his young guns to win their second of two games in South Africa
Head Coach Richie Murphy is set to go for broke, handing three players starting debuts in the second of the province's two mini-tour games in South Africa.
That's a first start, don't forget, in the URC's most iconic, most daunting venue. the 51,762 capacity Loftus Versfeld sits, at altitude, 1,350m above sea level in Pretoria.
Selections all the more remarkable as James McCormick and Academy second-row Charlie Irvine will be in the pack while Ben Carson's contribution will come in the most bruising place in the back-line, at first centre.
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Twenty-two-year-old McCormick has played just 41 minutes for Ulster to date, stemming from being sprung from the bench in the two opening 2024/25 UCR games against Glasgow and Lions.
Murphy would have been well aware of the player's capabilities on arrival in Belfast last season as McCormack was a first-choice Ireland U20 hooker for five 2022 U20 Six Nations matches and three of four games in a follow-on summer series.
Irvine is a second-year Ulster Academy player (2023/24 intake and doubling this with studying medicine at Queens) and has featured as a regular In Ireland under-age sides all the way up.
Again a player who Murphy has coached previously, having made four appearances for the 2021/22 Ireland U20s and five appearances for the 2022/23 Ireland U20s; there were three starts in those nine games.
Carson takes the first-centre shirt as normally occupied by man-mountain Stuart McCloskey who's physical presence has been very much part of the northern province's game plan for over a decade.
The 22-year-old has a similar frame to McCloskey, standing at six feet and weighing just over 15 stone. He played all five 2020/21 Ireland U20 Six Nations games but, hampered by injury the following season, managed just two.
First-team game time at Ulster has been limited to just one match, against Connacht in November 2023, when used for 33 minutes from the bench.
There are two further 'Ulster rookies' in the matchday squad as Murphy opts for a 5-3 split, replacement hooker Tadgh McElroy and replacement out-half James Humphreys.
McElroy has a lengthy professional CV that features spells at Saracens, Bedford, Bristol, Ealing, London Irish, Leinster (2022/23, 4 apps) and Connacht (2023-24, 13 apps).
Humphreys is the son of Ulster and Ireland star David Humphreys and is a 2020/21 two-times capped Ireland U20 international. He was on the bench for Ulster's opening two games this season.
Vodacom Bulls v Ulster Rugby, Saturday 5th October, 3pm, Round 3, BKT United Rugby Championship, Loftus Versfeld Stadium (Live on Premier Sports)
Ulster: Mike Lowry, Werner Kok, Stewart Moore, Ben Carson, Jacob Stockdale, Aidan Morgan, Nathan Doak; Andrew Warwick, James McCormick, Corrie Barrett, Iain Henderson (CAPT), Charlie Irvine, James McNabney, Sean Reffell, David McCann
Replacements: Tadgh McElroy, Eric O’Sullivan, Tom O’Toole, Alan O’Connor, Nick Timoney, Dave Shanahan, James Humphreys, Ben Moxham.
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