What time and TV channel is Ulster v Ulster on today in the URC?
Ulster and Munster have been struggling of late but a win for either side tonight could kickstart their season.
Ulster and Munster meet this evening ahead of their crunch URC clash.
It has been a mixed start to the new season for both sides and they'll be looking to gain some momentum going into the new year.
Here is everything you need to know about the game.
Where is the game on?
The game takes place at Ravenill.
What time is kick-off?
The game kicks off at 7.35pm Irish time.
What TV channel is it on and can I stream it?
It is being shown live on TG4 and the coverage starts at 7pm.
Betting Odds
Ulster 10/11, Munster 10/11; Draw 14/1
Team News
Munster won’t be able to put out their best side as Craig Casey, Thaakir Abrahams, Peter O'Mahony and Diarmuid Barron are injured.
Worse again, captain Tadhg Beirne is also unavailable due to IRFU player management requirements.
As for Ulster, they are without Iain Henderson, Nick Timoney, Cormac Izuchukwu and Nathan Doak. However, John Cooney returns at scrum-half.
Ulster: Michael Lowry; Werner Kok, Jude Postlethwaite, Stuart McCloskey, Zac Ward; Aidan Morgan, John Cooney; Andrew Warwick, Rob Herring, Tom O'Toole; Alan O'Connor (capt), Kieran Treadwell; James McNabney, Marcus Rea, David McCann.
Replacements: John Andrew, Eric O'Sullivan, Scott Wilson, Harry Sheridan, Matty Rea, Dave Shanahan, Jack Murphy, Rory Telfer.
Munster: Mike Haley; Calvin Nash, Tom Farrell, Alex Nankivell, Shane Daly; Jack Crowley, Paddy Patterson; John Ryan, Niall Scannell, Stephen Archer; Tom Ahern, Fineen Wycherley; Jack O'Donoghue (capt), John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: Eoghan Clarke, Dave Kilcoyne, Oli Jager, Evan O’Connell, Alex Kendellen, Ethan Coughlan, Rory Scannell, Brian Gleeson.
What They Say
Shane Daly has sorted his injury niggles and is ready to help Munster deliver the kind of season many of their fans fear is beyond them.
Ireland winger Daly missed last weekend’s defeat to Castres - their fifth loss from nine games this season.
And it won’t get any easier, Ulster on the agenda tonight then Leinster after Christmas.
Daly said: “These are massive games anyway despite where we are in the table. Every year, these are games that you really want to win more than any others.
“It's the inter-provincial rivalries where a lot of us are friends, but when it comes to the game days, there's no friends involved, and it's about putting Munster back where it should be, which is the top of the log in those scenarios.”
To be fair, Munster have competed recently, running Castres to two points last week, after chalking up two wins over Lions and Stade Francais.
But the issue is that they didn’t get within 10 points of Leinster, Stormers or Sharks earlier in the campaign - plus they lost to Zebre. Trust has yet to be garnered with their supporters.
And Daly said: “The big learning, from last Friday, is about how we compounded errors in that Castres game. If you look at how many times we let them off the hook when we were down in their 22, you will see we went from penalty to lineout penalty unforced.
“And then we end up defending our own try line.
“So it's about us improving our discipline. We gave away a lot more penalties than we've been giving away in the weeks previous.
“Over half the penalties we conceded could easily have been avoided.
“So just composure and trusting our system and those long sequences of play and not trying to force a turnover. It's about just trusting our defence, which has been good in multi-phase all season. So, that's a big learning for us.”
Still, it is one thing reviewing these matters on a Monday morning in a training centre, quite another staying cool in the white heat of battle.
But Daly said: “It is difficult but you have to get better at it. The more games you play, and you see the more experienced players are always better at adapting to when things go wrong because they've banked things before.
“People know where they can come back from mistakes, and it's more difficult for younger players.
“I definitely found out myself when I was younger, if you make an early mistake, it might impact the next two or three moments.
“And, obviously, it still has a knock on effect now, but it's much less because I know that I've played games where I started with a mistake and ended up having a great game. So having that bank of experience really helps in those scenarios.”
Experience will be needed tonight for while Ulster are also having a mixed season - winning only three of their nine games - they remain hard to beat at Ravenhill.
Daly warned: “Look, Ulster are always a good side, they are especially very good at home.
“The game against Bordeaux, they were quite unlucky last weekend. They were probably the better team for 60 minutes of that game.
“The scoreline didn't do them much favours, but they had a really good performance, so we're going to have to be at our best to beat them up there.”
Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts.
Related
Share this page
Guest Posts by Easy Branches
