Luke Marshall raring to go again

Ulster are looking to win their fifth consecutive Pro14 game as Marshall will be trying to outwit one of his mentors, Jonny Bell.

A European Cup winner with Ulster in 1999, Bell has had coaching spells with his native province and Gloucester before arriving at Scotstoun as Glasgow’s attack coach.

“Dinger was massive for me, I’d been working with him the whole way through,” said Marshall.

“He was involved with the sub-Academy and Academy when I was in school, so he would have come round when I was in sixth form and done individual skills with me in between classes.

“Then he was involved with some of the underage teams, the Irish Under-19s and Ulster Under-20s, so he coached me there and then at senior level he was Ulster’s defence coach.

“I always had a good relationship with Jonny, I’d still be in contact with him now, he played centre as well, so he was a good influence, it’ll be good to catch up with him.”

After getting 27 minutes off the bench in last week’s win Cardiff as he returned from his latest injury set back the 11-time capped Irish centre is hoping to build up his game time.

“Try and get a few more match minutes, try and get a bit more training, I’ve only been back in full training a couple of weeks so hopefully I can get a bit more fitness there as well,” he said.

“The way Dan (McFarland) has us training, it’s such high intensity, that’s how he prepares us for games so that we’re not surprised by the pace in games but there’s certain stuff you can only get in games.

“I’ve had an issue with my hip for quite a few years now, so it’s something I’ve been staying on top of.

“Normally I can stay on top of it, but this time it just didn’t go away, it was frustrating for a few different reasons, not just that I wasn’t able to play rugby, it hindered my personal life as well. Just walking around was sore, at one stage I was thinking I was going to need surgery on it, but it’s good to get through it and get back playing again.”

Despite missing the Pro14 final and the European Cup quarter-final with his hip injury Marshall tried to remain positive.

“I always try to look at it as a bit of a challenge, that’s one thing I remember Tommy Bowe saying, he tried to look at every injury as a challenge to try and get back to where he was before it, and that’s what I try to do,” he said.

“It’s been really frustrating the last few months but at the same time, you look at the position you’re in you have a good job that’s almost like a hobby.

“If you look around what’s happening in the world, you’re very privileged to do what you do. As frustrating as it is, you have to look at the more important things and work hard,

“Another thing for me was looking at some of the young guys coming through and playing well, James Hume, Stew Moore when they’re playing so well, you can’t sit around feeling sorry for yourself, you have to work hard to get back and put in as good a challenge as you can to those guys to get back in the squad.”

Ulster team

(15-9): Michael Lowry, Craig Gilroy, Luke Marshall, Stewart Moore, Matt Faddes, Ian Madigan, John Cooney;

(1-8): Jack McGrath, John Andrew, Marty Moore, Kieran Treadwell, Sam Carter (Capt.), Matty Rea, Sean Reidy, Marcell Coetzee.

Replacements: Adam McBurney, Eric O’Sullivan, Gareth Milasinovich, Alan O’Connor, Marcus Rea, David Shanahan, Bill Johnston, Ethan McIlroy.