After opening the pre-season programme with six-tries in victory over Championship side Jersey last week, Richard Cockerill takes the Tigers squad to Ravenhill to face Ulster.
“Jersey was a good run-out and a chance to get the rustiness out,” said Tigers director of rugby Cockerill.
“It was good for Jordan Crane and Kieran Brookes to get their first rugby for a while, Rob Hawkins was back from injury and some of the new additions to the squad and the younger guys played as well.
“We’ve now got two more games before London Welsh in the first Aviva Premiership game and we want to get the combinations in the team right and have everyone ready.
“Ravenhill is a hard place to go, as we have found to our cost. Ulster had a really good year last year, they’ve got a new coaching team, a few new faces and they got a very good win in Bayonne last week.
“We’ll take as full a squad as we’ve got. It is about getting the ‘hit-out’ physically and getting combinations and making sure everybody is fit.”
Cockerill reported no fresh injury worries after seeing Crane, Brookes and Hawkins come through last weekend.
“Jordan has had no issues at all,” said Cockerill. “He’s been rehabbing from his knee injury for over 12 months and we have been cautious but there was no reaction to him playing 50 minutes in his first game back and that is a good outcome for us.”
Tigers will be without Boris Stankovich, Ed Slater and Miles Benjamin who are on their way back from injury, and Cockerill has confirmed that Louis Deacon’s return has been delayed by shoulder surgery.
“It is disappointing for Deacs after so much time off with his hamstring last season,” he said. “But the shoulder did not settle as well as we wanted so the decision was made to have surgery. I'd rather have him missing now and ready for the rest of the season because he is going to be very important for us.”
While Tigers are in Northern Ireland, prop Marcos Ayerza begins his Rugby Championship campaign in South Africa with Argentina.
We'll have updates from belfast throughout the afternoon with live scoring on the Tigers website and all the news on Facebook and Twitter. There is no TV coverage or radio commentary scheduled from the game.
Tigers return to home soil for the final pre-season fixture, against Nottingham, next Saturday (3pm). Entry is included in all 2012/13 season tickets. Tickets are available now for all other supporters.
