Ulster A start their Celtic Cup campaign tomorrow (Saturday) with an away trip to Llandovery RFC where they will face the Scarlets A team, kick off 14:30.
The team have had a reasonable build up, with two wins against their Leinster counterparts, but it all moves up a notch tomorrow.
Scarlets are captained by their Wales U20 starlet Jac Morgan and, with 17 players away on international duty and the rest of the squad involved in an internal match today, it’s a fairly young Scarlets side for this first fixture.
Ulster also field a young side. Zack McCall, Jack Regan and Joe Dunleavy are called into the squad which largely featured in the two hit outs against Leinster. Youngster Nathan Doak is also called up for his first appearance at this level, following in the footsteps of his old man, with a start at scrum half.
It seems somewhat churlish to criticise the side that produced to back to back wins against Leinster in the last couple of weeks but both games had plenty of errors.
With such a short series of game in this competition a good start is vital and Ulster will need to hit the floor running for this one.
Scarlets A: 15 Kallum Evans, 14 Morgan Griffiths, 13 Osian Knott, 12 Rhodri Jones, 11 Harri Doel, 10 Ioan Hughes, 9 Efan Jones, 1 Steff Thomas, 2 Dom Booth, 3 Alex Jeffries, 4 Robin Williams, 5 Lee Taylor, 6 Stuart Worrell, 7 Jac Morgan (c) , 8 Lewys Millin. Replacements: 16 Kemsley Mathias, 17 Greg George, 18 Llyr Green/ Jamie Hughes, 19 Lewis Ellis Jones, 20 Gethin Davies, 21 Dafydd Land, 22 Jac Wilson, 23 AN Other.
Ulster A: 15 Conor Rankin, 14 Ethan McIlroy, 13 Hayden Hyde, 12 Ben Power, 11 Graham Curtis, 10 Bruce Houston, 9 Nathan Doak, 1 Callum Reid, 2 Zack McCall (c), 3 Peter Cooper, 4 JJ McKee, 5 Jack Regan, 6 Joe Dunleavey, 7 David McCann, 8 Azur Allison. Replacements: 16 Claytan Milligan, 17 Paul Mullen, 18 Jonny Blair, 19 Connor McMenamin, 20 Matthew Agnew, 21 Aaron Hall, 22 Lewis Finlay, 23 Michael Strong.
Ulster A’s Celtic Cup Schedule
| Sat 24 Aug | 14:30 | Scarlets | Ulster | Llandovery RFC |
| Sat 31 Aug | 19:30 | Ulster | Cardiff | Malone RFC |
| Fri 06 Sep | 16:00 | Ulster | Connacht | Ballymena RFC |
| Sat 14 Sep | 15:00 | Leinster | Ulster | Energia Park |
| Sat 21 Sep | 14:30 | Dragons | Ulster | TBC |
| Fri 27 Sep | 17:00 | Ulster | Ospreys | Malone RFC |
| Fri 04 Oct | 17:00 | Ulster | Munster | Shawsbridge |
