Ulster seeking deja vu
Ulster travel to France to play Clermont Auvergne this weekend knowing a victory on French soil will be good enough to see them qualify for the Heineken Cup quarterfinals for a second successive season.
The Irish province, who lifted the trophy in 1999, are in pole position but face the daunting prospect of a trip to play the French side in their own backyard to secure their position at the top of Pool Four and to make the knock-out stages.
Clermont, who are three points behind the Belfast side, need a bonus point victory to guarantee they, and not Ulster, make the last eight of the European rugby’s premier competition.
Both sides will have the consolation of knowing that they, and the Leicester Tigers, could still have the consolation of a place in the last eight of this season’s Amlin Challenge Cup.
Ulster recorded a 16-11 home victory at Ravenhill over Clermont in the opening game of the pool but the French side have earned themselves four vital bonus points to keep them in the hunt for a quarterfinal place.
Clermont: 15 Lee Byrne, 14 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 13 Aurélien Rougerie, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Julien Malzieu, 10 David Skrela, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Julien Bonnaire, 7 Julien Bardy, 6 Gerhard Vosloo, 5 Nathan Hines, 4 Julien Pierre, 3 Clément Ric, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Lionel Faure.
Replacements: 16 Ti’i Paulo, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Daniel Coetzee, 19 Jamie Cudmore, 20 Alexandre Lapandry, 21 Kevin Senio, 22 Brock James, 23 Regan King.
Ulster: 15 Stefan Terblanche, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Ian Whitten, 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Craig Gilroy, 10 Ian Humphreys, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Pedrie Wannenburg, 7 Chris Henry, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Dan Tuohy, 4 Johann Muller (captain), 3 John Afoa, 2 Rory Best, 1 Tom Court.
Replacements: 16 Andi Kyriacou, 17 Callum Black, 18 Adam Macklin, 19 Lewis Stevenson, 20 Willie Faloon, 21 Paul Marshall, 22 Nevin Spence, 23 Adam D’Arcy.
Date: Saturday, January 21
Kick-off: 16:40 (15:40 GMT)
Venue: Stade Marcel Michelin
Referee: Dave Pearson (England)
Assistant referees: David Rose (England), Roy Maybank (England)
TMO: Trevor Fisher (England)
