Paul Pritchard letting All-Ireland League table 'take care of itself' after Instonians open up advantage at summit

The two Ulster clubs are set to clash at Shaw’s Bridge on Saturday and Inst coach Paul Pritchard praised his players after last week’s win in Tipperary.

“In terms of how we thought after the game we were very proud of the guys,” he said. “Something that we were very happy about was the spirit we put in.

“With the conditions Cashel would have been licking their lips before the game because it would have suited their plan, but the lads dug really deep and played some outstanding rugby and we were very happy with last week.

“We spoke after the game about how good we were when we just went direct rather than trying to find spaces on edges. We are so good that we have the weapons there to take any space that any team gives us.

“It allowed the lads to see we have a couple of game plans up our sleeves.”

Inst are chasing a fourth consecutive victory, but Pritchard isn’t concerned about league position at the moment.

“It’s December – we’re not overly concerned about that as we are not even at the halfway mark yet and we are not thinking about being points clear,” he added. “We are just going to keep focusing on our job and making sure we get as many points as we possibly can out of every game we play and it will take care of itself.”

Banbridge shocked Corinthians with the 27-0 victory last weekend and while the result raised a few eyebrows, Pritchard wasn’t surprised.

“I think that Banbridge team have been under performing for a bit of time,” he said. “If you look at that team it is quality, so we are in no doubt that we are going to have a very tough challenge and obviously it is the double-header.

“They have got a great pack – the Cromie’s are there, Michael played for Ulster, Alex Thompson played for Ulster, Rob Lyttle is there, you have a very good 10 in Charlie Beattie, the full back has been playing Irish Schools and is in an Ulster development academy.

“It is not like this is a Banbridge team that is weak by any means – they are very strong and they really showed their potential last week.

“Ricky Andrew is doing a big job there and he is an Ulster development coach. This is a team that should be challenging top four and we know that is the quality that they have.

“We are looking forward to a good test and we are happy the first one is at home. We just have to go out and make sure that we play to the best of our ability.

“It’s the last league game at home (this year), we are on a good run and we want to take the momentum into this weekend and then we don’t have too much time off with cup games.”

Inst make one change from last week with Glen Faloon coming onto the wing for Matthew Keane.