{"id":208904,"date":"2025-12-24T17:27:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T17:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/208904\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T17:27:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T17:27:07","slug":"ulster-make-six-changes-for-connacht-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/208904\/","title":{"rendered":"Ulster make six changes for Connacht trip"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ulster head coach Richie Murphy has made six changes for the United Rugby Championship clash with Connacht at Dexcom Stadium on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The side performed well against Leinster at the Aviva Stadium on Friday before ultimately losing out 24-20<\/a>, and they’ll hope to get back to winning ways in Galway.<\/p>\n

Cormac Izuchukwu returns to the starting side for the first time since October after missing out through injury and illness last week.<\/p>\n

The Irish international forward committed his future to Ulster this week <\/a>with a two-year contract extension and he starts alongside Harry Sheridan, who will make his 50th appearance for the province, in the second row.<\/p>\n

There are two changes to the starting front row with Sam Crean starting at loosehead prop and Scott Wilson starting at tighthead. Tom Stewart retains his position at hooker following an impressive try-scoring performance against Leinster.<\/p>\n

The back row is unchanged with David McCann starting at blindside flanker and captain Nick Timoney starting at openside flanker. Juarno Augustus starts at number eight to complete the forward pack.<\/p>\n

\"19
\nUlster performed well in Dublin last Friday<\/p>\n

In the half-backs, scrum-half Conor McKee makes his first interprovincial start alongside Jack Murphy at ten.<\/p>\n

There are two personnel changes in the backline with Zac Ward coming in to start on the left flank and James Hume returning to the midfield after he missed out last week with illness.<\/p>\n

Hume forms a centre partnership with Stuart McCloskey, the in-form Werner Kok starts on the right wing and Jacob Stockdale starts at full-back.<\/p>\n

Ulster: Jacob Stockdale, Werner Kok, James Hume, Stuart McCloskey, Zac Ward, Jack Murphy, Conor McKee, Sam Crean, Tom Stewart, Scott Wilson, Harry Sheridan, Cormac Izuchukwu, David McCann, Nick Timoney (C), Juarno Augustus.<\/p>\n

Replacements: John Andrew, Angus Bell, Tom O\u2019Toole Joe Hopes, Bryn Ward, Nathan Doak, Jake Flannery, Jude Postlethwaite.<\/p>\n

Listen to live radio commentary of Connacht v Ulster (5.30pm) and Munster v Leinster (7.45pm) on RT\u00c9 Radio 1’s Saturday Sport<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ulster head coach Richie Murphy has made six changes for the United Rugby Championship clash with Connacht at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-208904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}