Marty Moore will make only his second start of the season tomorrow afternoon as Ulster look to banish their European demons with a return to domestic action against the Ospreys in Swansea.
Month has only appeared in six of his seven games since making his comeback, having missed the most of a year due to injury. The tight head prop for Ireland, who has been capped ten times, participated in the team’s crushing losses to Toulouse and Harlequins, which sent Ulster to the Challenge Cup. Moore, though, is optimistic that the team can win against the Ospreys.
Moore remarked, “Things change very quickly. We were one of the best teams, and then we had two bad games, and it changed.” “You may forget the calibre of work we did in the weeks before that; I don’t think it will take much for us to perform on stage and return to our previous calibre.
“The past few weeks without a game to go and correct or put things right have been difficult at first. It’s not something that the squad has done a lot of together, nor is it something that the squad members are all over.
The possibility that it may happen to us was perhaps what surprised us the most. In the days after those performances, we had some really tough talks, both with coaches and between ourselves.
“At this point, we shouldn’t talk about it too much more since we still have the game to look forward to, and it’s a real head-scratcher. You never think you’ll walk onto the pitch and give a performance like that.
It’s not something you can learn a lot from as a professional; the fundamentals fail us there. There was that obstacle, but we’ve worked hard over the past several weeks to position ourselves for success this weekend. Hopefully, the team’s hard work will pay off.
Moore is eager to make a breakthrough in Wales.
“I can only speak for myself but it’s not that I feel a lack of confidence,” he said. “I feel angry that that might be the perception of me…I look forward to grasping the opportunity to right that.“Maybe some guys are different and might need a bit of boosting up. We’ll do that where it’s needed but, for me, I’m not happy with myself and the only way to right that is by coming out this weekend
“We’ve had some pretty tough battles with them over the years…away to Ospreys is always attritional, always very low-scoring. When I think back, it’s always a tough day and one that’s heavily reliant on set-piece and territory…we’ve prepped accordingly, we’ll expect a pretty wet afternoon.”
Scott Wilson is Moore’s understudy on the bench and he has been impressed by the Queen’s front row.
“His development over the last four or five months has been massive,” said Moore. “I’ve always said we’re a good squad for that, we’re not trying to hide knowledge or intel from each other. We want to make each other better, whether it’s him coming to me, or me going to him, or Tom O’Toole…that’s a pretty helpful floor with regards to getting better, so we’re looking to drive that and push that as a squad.”
ULSTER: Jake Flannery, Jacob Stockdale, Mike Lowry, James Hume, Jude Postlewaithe, Will Addison, and Jake Lowry
Andrew Warwick, John Andrew, Nick Timoney, Iain Henderson, David McCann, Harry Sheridan, Marty Moore, and Nathan Doak.
Tom Stewart, Steven Kitshoff, Cormac Izuchukwu, Matty Rea, Dave Shanahan, Luke Marshall, and Ethan McIlroy are the replacements.
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