Ulster handed injury boost as Michael Lowry and James Hume return

Ulster skills coach Dan Soper confirmed that both were back in training.

He said: “James Hume and Michael Lowry are back into training, provided everything goes well and there is no reaction to training and that, they were tracking pretty well.”

However the synopsis on Australian lock Sam Carter wasn’t so upbeat.

Soper said: “Sam, it is just has not progressed as well as we would have hoped, just one of those things, the majority of the time they get it pretty accurate in terms of time period but every now and again you get one that does not respond to the rehabilitation and this was one of those.

“It is unfortunate and Sam is pretty frustrated as are we but it is the nature of how things go sometimes.”

Ulster will be looking to bounce back at home to the Cheetahs after last Saturday’s surprise defeat at the Ospreys.

“No doubt conditions were not great and we did a lot of learning, we have a way that we like to play and everyone has seen how we like to play but in conditions like that you need to have an alternative,” said Soper.

“At times we did that really well and at times we did a lot of things very good but there were crucial moments in the game that we did not nail and we are pretty disappointed with that.

“[I was] disappointed that despite playing as poorly at times as we had that we put ourselves in a position with 10 minutes to go when were in a position to win the game - that really was the biggest disappointment, that we were not able to just manage those last 10 minutes to see it out.”

Ulster are only six points ahead of the Cheetahs in Conference A and with the South Africans having the easy run-in on paper Soper knows Ulster can’t afford to drop points for a second consecutive week.

“Look, we knew this was going to be a tough block, this block of three games, and it just makes this even more important this weekend,” he said.

“It was always going to be an important game, a tough game and league-wise it is going to be a real battle to stay ahead of them, so that starts this weekend with another good performance at home.

“The Cheetahs have got serious pace and we saw what they did to us last time, they’ve a remarkable ability to score as soon as they get the ball so when you’re playing them it’s important not to kick loosely, not to cough up the ball cheaply, (give them) that sort of loose turnover ball.

“They’ve got Ruan (Pienaar) driving things as well, he’s able to spot that opportunity, he’s got some seriously dangerous players that can hurt you so we know that looking after the ball and keeping control of what we’re trying to do in the game is going to be important, massively.”

l Queen’s moved up to third in Division 2A after completing a league double over Ulster rivals Rainey.

Ritchie McMaster’s late drop goal sealed the first meeting for the students at the Dub and their repeated that success with a 15-10 win at Hatrick Park after the game was moved to the 3G pitch.

Queen’s are on the same points on Cashel but have a inferior points different.

Lock Jack McCay got the game’s opening try for the students, scrum half Matthew Keane went over for his fourth try in two games.

Ritchie McMaster kicked a conversion and landed a penalty to put Queen’s 15-0 up at half time.

Rainey responded with a penalty try and full back Marty Connolly kicked a penalty to earn a losing bonus point.

Ballymena moved 13 points above the relegation play-off zone with a 7-0 win over Old Crescent at Eaton Park.

Malone moved up to sixth in Division 1B after a 12-0 win at basement club Navan, while Armagh went down 15 -10 to leaders Highfield at the Palace Grounds and Banbridge suffered a 17-14 defeat at Old Belvedere.