Ulster boosted by return of Stuart McCloskey and young Irish talent for Ospreys clash

The queue for the treatment room at Ulster remains oversubscribed ahead of their United Rugby Championship (URC) meeting with the Ospreys on Friday night.
Skipper Iain Henderson, centre Stewart Moore and fullback Ethan McElroy failed to survive intact from the rough and tumble of the victory over Connacht last weekend, but there was some good news too.
Ulster head coach Richie Murphy has had to alter his starting line-up as a result, albeit with the fillip of the returning Emerging Ireland players.
Mikey Lowry takes over from McElroy at fullback while there is a new centre partnership in Ben Carson and the returning Stuart McCloskey, who has shaken off knee and ankle issues sustained with Ireland in South Africa during the summer, to play a first game of the season. There are a couple of changes at prop with Eric O’Sullivan and Tom O’Toole back in situ.
Skerries-born Alan O’Connor reaches a significant milestone with his adopted province in making his 200th appearance. Harry Sheridan and Cormac Izuchukwu, both of whom excelled with Emerging Ireland, have been selected at secondrow and blindside flanker respectively. Marcus Rea gets a rare start at openside flanker while brother, Matty, is among the replacements.
Also on the bench is 22-year-old outhalf James Humphreys – he also played scrumhalf as a schoolboy – son of former Ulster and Ireland No 10 David, now the IRFU high-performance director. James was part of the Gloucester academy as a teenager and played for the Irish Under-20s in 2021. He was part of the Ulster academy intake the same year.
He made his senior Ulster debut when coming on as a replacement during the province’s recent URC defeat to the Bulls in Pretoria, where he marked the occasion by kicking two conversions. Jude Postlethwaite, another to shine with the nascent Irish side in South Africa, has recovered sufficiently from the knocks he sustained in the Connacht game to take a place on the bench.
Will Greatbanks, Kieran Hardy and Dan Kasende make their first starts for the Ospreys. Keelan Giles is back after injury, while Dan Gemine and Rhys Thomas are in line to make their club debuts off the bench.
Ospreys head coach Toby Booth said: “Ulster are a very good team and there’s always a great atmosphere at Ravenhill. It’s going to be a tough gig, but we’ve got some good players ourselves and some youngsters that will be full of excitement. What’s important for us in this one is that we be the best we can be.”
Ulster will be looking for a little more control. Former Irish 20s Grand Slam winner Carson and McCloskey boast plenty of power, similar in attributes as befits primarily being inside centres. The home side will look to last week’s man of the match John Cooney and his halfback partner to provide intelligent direction and, if given a platform, should lead the side to a win.
ULSTER: M Lowry; W Kok, B Carson, S McCloskey, J Stockdale; A Morgan, J Cooney; E O’Sullivan, J McCormick, T O’Toole; A O’Connor (capt), H Sheridan; C Izuchukwu, Marcus Rea, D McCann.
Replacements: T McElroy, C Reid, S Wilson, K Treadwell, Matty Rea, N Doak, J Humphreys, J Postlethwaite.
OSPREYS: J Walsh; D Kasende, E Boshoff, O Williams, K Giles; D Edwards, K Hardy: G Thomas, S Parry, B Warren; W Greatbanks, L Jones: L Lloyd, J Tipuric, M Morris (capt).
Replacements: E Lewis, G Phillips, M Iowerth-Scott, R Thomas, D Gemine, R Morgan-Williams, T Florence, M Nagy.
Referee: A Piardi (Italy).