{"id":4802,"date":"2025-12-18T12:44:42","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T12:44:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=4802"},"modified":"2025-12-18T12:44:42","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T12:44:42","slug":"leinster-v-ulster-angus-bell-starts-and-stuart-mccloskey-returns-for-ulsters-aviva-stadium-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=4802","title":{"rendered":"Leinster v Ulster: Angus Bell starts and Stuart McCloskey returns for Ulster&#8217;s Aviva Stadium trip"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\"><b class=\"ssrcss-1xjjfut-BoldText e5tfeyi3\">Australia prop Angus Bell will make his first Ulster start in Friday&#8217;s United Rugby Championship game against Leinster at Aviva Stadium (19:45 GMT).<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Short-term signing Bell, who came off the bench in the Challenge Cup fixtures against Racing 92 and Cardiff, starts at loose-head with Ireland internationals Tom O&#8217;Toole and Tom Stewart completing the front row. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Centre Stuart McCloskey returns from the groin injury he sustained on Ireland duty last month. He is joined in midfield by Jude Postlethwaite, who missed last weekend&#8217;s defeat by Cardiff because of concussion. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Ulster head coach Richie Murphy has recalled several players after rotating his squad for the Cardiff game, with Nick Timoney and Juarno Augustus returning to the back row. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Jacob Stockdale is restored at full-back, while Rob Baloucoune &#8211; who has scored five tries this season &#8211; returns to the right wing. The first-choice half-back pairing of Nathan Doak and Jack Murphy are also recalled.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Ethan McIlroy is set for his first appearance since January from the bench after recovering from a knee injury.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Ireland forward James Ryan will earn his 100th Leinster cap in Friday&#8217;s interprovincial derby.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">URC holders Leinster will be captained by Jack Conan, who came through graduated return to play protocols, with Caelan Doris not named in the squad. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Leinster head coach Leo Cullen has changed his front row after last weekend&#8217;s Investec Champions Cup win at Leicester, with Jack Boyle, Rabah Slimani and Gus McCarthy named to start. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">New Zealand international Rieko Ioane will play his first URC game after a couple of Champions Cup appearances, while Sam Prendergast is restored at fly-half after Harry Byrne was preferred for the Leicester game. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\"><b class=\"ssrcss-1xjjfut-BoldText e5tfeyi3\">Leinster:<\/b> Frawley; Kenny, Ioane, Tector, Lowe; Prendergast, McGrath; Boyle, G McCarthy, Slimani, Deeny, Ryan, Soroka, Penny, Conan (capt). <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\"><i class=\"ssrcss-xbdn93-ItalicText e5tfeyi2\">Replacements: <\/i>Sheehan, P McCarthy, Furlong, J McCarthy, Deegan, Gunne, Byrne, Moloney.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\"><b class=\"ssrcss-1xjjfut-BoldText e5tfeyi3\">Ulster:<\/b> Stockdale; Baloucoune, Postlethwaite, McCloskey, Kok; Murphy, Doak; Bell, Stewart, O&#8217;Toole, Sheridan, Irvine, McCann, Timoney (capt), Augustus. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\"><i class=\"ssrcss-xbdn93-ItalicText e5tfeyi2\">Replacements: <\/i>Andrew, Crean, Wilson, Hopes, B Ward, McKee, Flannery, McIlroy. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/rugby-union\/articles\/cp84d328jnyo?at_medium=RSS&#038;at_campaign=rss\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Australia prop Angus Bell will&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[251],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4802"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}