Dewey To Start For Ulster Against Former Club
Scotland international Rob Dewey and Ireland Under-20 Grand Slam-winning captain David Pollock will both start Ulster’s Magners League game against Edinburgh at Ravenhill (kick-off 7.30pm) on Friday.
Following Ulster’s crucial win over Connacht last Friday, a positive result against Edinburgh could see the men in white move further up the Magners League table and help get their season back on track.
Steve Williams, the province’s caretaker coach, has made just two changes to the starting line-up that secured a 30-13 victory at the Sportsground last week.
Rob Dewey will start against his former club Edinburgh as he replaces Paul Steinmetz at inside centre. Williams said: “Dewey is a powerful player and has trained well this week, I know that he’s looking forward to running out at Ravenhill against his old club.”
Former Ulster Academy player David Pollock will start in the back row, lining up beside Neil Best and Roger Wilson, with Kieron Dawson acting as cover on the replacements bench.
The powerful back rower made his Heineken Cup debut less than two weeks ago against Bourgoin and is looking forward to running out at Ravenhill.
The 20-year-old Pollock said: “Ulster fans are very vocal so no matter how many people come along to watch they always make their presence felt, which is why it’s such a pleasure to play at Ravenhill because it has such a special atmosphere.”
Keen to give such a young talent some more game time, Williams said: “After coming off the bench the last two games David deserves the start. It’s important to freshen things up and to share the workload.”
Williams has made a number of changes to his team selections since assuming the position of caretaker coach almost three weeks ago following Mark McCall’s resignation.
Commenting on his selection policy, the Welshman admitted: “The players I choose to start are chosen because of the attributes they have are suited to a particular game. For future matches the side that we need to send out will be different, but at the minute the players selected have qualities that I think are needed for the task ahead.”
ULSTER (v Edinburgh): Mark Bartholomeusz; Tommy Bowe, Andrew Trimble, Rob Dewey, Simon Danielli; Paddy Wallace, Isaac Boss; Justin Fitzpatrick, Rory Best (capt), Bryan Young, Matt McCullough, Carlo Del Fava, Neil Best, David Pollock, Roger Wilson.
Replacements: Nigel Brady, Declan Fitzpatrick, Ryan Caldwell, Kieron Dawson, Kieran Campbell, Niall O’Connor, Paul Steinmetz.