Ulster have handed starts to five of their summer signings for Friday’s United Rugby Championship opener against Edinburgh at the Affidea Stadium (19:45 BST).<\/p>\n
They form part of a total of eight players in the matchday squad who are set to make their competitive debuts for the Irish province.<\/p>\n
New forward additions Eduardo Bello, Eli Snyman, Ben Donnell and Martin Moloney are named in the starting team, with another new recruit, Jamie Benson, chosen among the backs.<\/p>\n
Ireland wing Robert Baloucoune is back in the starting line-up, while last season’s top try-scorer Zac Ward is among the replacements, both players having been involved in Ireland camp over the summer.<\/p>\n
Full-back Michael Lowry is named as captain.<\/p>\n
After missing all of last season because of a knee injury, James McNabney makes his competitive return, starting at number eight.<\/p>\n
Argentine debutant Bello joins Eric O’Sullivan and James McCormick in the front row, with Snyman and Donnell forming the second row.<\/p>\n
In the back row, there is a debut for former Exeter Chiefs forward Moloney at open-side flanker, with McCann starting at blind-side.<\/p>\n
Conor McKee and Jack Murphy make up the half-back combination, while ex-Harlequins back Benson and Ben Carson team up in midfield.<\/p>\n
Baloucoune is selected on the right wing and Development back Aitzol Arenzana-King on the left.<\/p>\n
Arenzana-King crossed for four tries in Ulster’s pre-season games against Edinburgh and Ospreys.<\/p>\n
Development hooker Henry Walker, prop Keynan Knox and scrum-half Matthew Devine are named in a youthful bench.<\/p>\n
Forwards Walker, Tom McAllister, Knox, Harry Sheridan and James McKillop, and backs Devine, Jake Flannery and Zac Ward are chosen as replacements.<\/p>\n
Ulster: Lowry (capt), Baloucoune, Carson, Benson, Arenzana-King, Murphy, McKee, O’Sullivan, McCormick, Bello, Snyman, Donnell, McCann, Moloney, McNabney.<\/p>\n
Replacements: Walker, McAllister, Knox, Sheridan, McKillop, Devine, Flannery, Z Ward<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ulster have handed starts to five of their summer signings for Friday’s United Rugby Championship opener against Edinburgh…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":781903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-781902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=781902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/781903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=781902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=781902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=781902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}