Ulster

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Ulster have confirmed the appointment of former New Zealand international Clarke Dermody as the province's new forwards coach.

The 46-year-old, who will join this summer before the 2026-27 season, will replace Jimmy Duffy.

Dermody will move to Ulster from Super Rugby side Highlanders, where he has fulfilled a number of positions including a two-year stint as head coach between 2022 and 2024.

"While we are sad to say goodbye to Jimmy Duffy who is moving on, as a coaching team we are very excited to be welcoming Clarke to Ulster this summer," said Ulster head coach Richie Murphy.

"He is an experienced coach, with a strong track record of developing top talent. We are looking forward to seeing him implement his methods and philosophy with our squad next season."

During his playing career, loose-head prop Dermody played for Southland, Highlanders and London Irish, where he made over 100 appearances before injury forced his retirement in 2012.

He made three Test appearances for the All Blacks, two of which came against Ireland in 2006.

His coaching career began at Southland Stags in 2014, while he was the Highlanders' scrum coach during their 2015 Super Rugby triumph.

As co-coach alongside current Ireland attack coach Andrew Goodman, Dermody won back-to-back National Provincial Championship titles with in 2019 and 2020 with Tanman Mako.

Having impressed as Highlanders forwards coach, Dermody was appointed head coach in 2022 following Tony Brown's departure for Japan before transitioning into assistant coach two years later after Jamie Joseph's return to the Dunedin-based franchise.

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Academy player Wilhelm De Klerk and Bryn Ward are two of 10 changes made by Richie Murphy for Friday's final regular season United Rugby Championship match against leaders Glasgow Warriors in Belfast.

Ulster need a positive result to secure a play-off spot and Champions Cup qualification and are bolstered by the return of Rob Herring and James Hume from injury.

However, they are without captain Iain Henderson as they await the outcome of a disciplinary hearing following his red card against Stormers.

It is a huge few weeks for the northern province and they will also be wary of their upcoming Challenge Cup final against Montpellier in Bilbao on 22 May.

Sam Cream starts at loosehead prop with Tom O'Toole, who missed the draw against Stormers through illness, back at tighthead prop alongside Herring.

Harry Sheridan and Charlie Irvine start in the second row with development forward Joe Hopes and academy forward Ward handed starts in the back row.

Nick Timoney retains his position as openside flanker and will captain the side, while Conor McKee starts at scrum-half and Jake Flannery at fly-half.

In the midfield, De Klerk begins as the inside centre for the first time with Hume at outside centre.

After all registering tries against the Stormers, the back row remains unchanged with Zac Ward starting on the left wing, Werner Kok on the right wing and Michael Lowry at full-back.

Tom Stewart, Angus Bell, Scott Wilson, Cormac Izuchukwu and Lorcan McLoughlin the forward replacements, while Nathan Doak, Jack Murphy and Ethan McIlroy are the backline options.

Glasgow have a one-point lead at the top of the URC and ended their three-game run without a win against Cardiff Rugby in their last match.

Ulster: Lowry; Kok; Hume, De Klerk; Z Ward; Flannery, McKee; B Ward, Timoney (capt), Hopes, Irvine, Sheridan, O'Toole; Herring, Crean.

Replacements: Stewart, Bell, Wilson, Izuchukwu, McLoughlin, Doak, Murphy, McIlroy.

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Ulster prop Eric O'Sullivan said that his side know that two wins in their final United Rugby Championship [URC] games "make our season look a lot different".

Richie Murphy's side have a Challenge Cup final against Montpellier to look forward to but successive defeats by Leinster and Munster have dropped Ulster from third to eighth in the URC with two games left.

Ulster face the top two in Stormers and Glasgow Warriors with O'Sullivan acknowledging that the importance of winning those games and reaching the play-offs is helping players to put their European final at the back of their minds.

"The fact the two games matter is a huge part of it, we know we need two wins," he told BBC Sport NI.

"Two wins makes our season looks a lot different. Knowing each game matters is really important and we have to out and get wins and it will prep us well for the final.

"If you can compete with the two top in the league you can compete with anyone and its two important games coming up before the final."

Stormers have won 12 of their 16 URC games this season and O'Sullivan expects they will come with their full cohort to ensure they secure top seeds and home advantage in the play-offs.

"We're expecting them to come here fully loaded. They have a lot to play for, home advantage would be huge for them," he added.

"You want to go up against the best teams with their full depth and hopefully we can get a good result.

The 30-year-old hopes his side can use the feel-good factor around the club to propel them to a big victory on Friday.

"I'm a confidence player and when things are going well its easy to snowball from that and I'm sure there are guys in the squad that feel the same.

"You have league leaders coming to town, you're going into another big physical match, so you have to be switched on and ready to go.

"Going into the game its good to have the confidence and the European win but you have to park that."