» Scolari named Chelsea boss

» Turks break Swiss hearts

» Portugal sweep home

» Italy to ring the changes

» Olympic Q&A: Sifiso Nhlapo

» Habana's leading role

» Defeat not an option

» Croatia need more

Today, 06 July 2008

Yesterday, 05 July 2008

» 'Recognise me or no talks'

Two young wings, Roger Davies and Leigh Halfpenny, will make their debuts for the Blues in the final round of the Magners League season, when they face Ulster at Ravenhill on Friday.

Cardiff Blues have already secured their position as top placed Welsh team in the Magners League this season, and with a four point cushion ahead of Munster, a win against Ulster will cement their place as runners up in the final league pecking order.

The Blues line-up shows wholesale changes to the team that recorded a bonus-point win against Connacht in Galway last Friday - with Nick Robinson, Xavier Rush, Scott Morgan, Maama Molitika and Fao Filise the only players to keep their starting berths.

Roger Davies and Leigh Halfpenny were both on the scoresheet in Wednesday's Principality Premiership regional derby win for Cardiff against Pontypridd.

In addition Bradley Davies, Ben White and Dafydd Hewitt all return to the starting fifteen.

Cardiff Blues Director of Rugby, David Young said his team is looking for a strong finish and will not ease off, despite the season coming to an end.

"The margin of the win was pleasing last week, and the boys were disappointed to let in a last minute try," Young said.

"Overall this season has been a big step forward for us. We won two out of three in the EDF, reached the quarterfinals of the Heineken Cup and are the best placed Welsh region in the Magners League. We've already started to look at areas where we can improve.

"We are all hands to the pump at the minute with the Wales call ups and also with injuries, so we are down to what we have got left. We haven't trained much this week either because of our lack of numbers. However it's nice to see two youngsters coming in on the wing. They have both played well for Cardiff this season and deserve their chance."

Cardiff Blues: 15 Nick Macleod, 14 Roger Davies, 13 Marc Stcherbina, 12 Dafydd Hewitt, 11 Leigh Halfpenny, 10 Nicky Robinson, 9 Richie Rees, 8 Xavier Rush (captain), 7 Ben White, 6 Maama Molitika, 5 Scott Morgan, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Gary Powell, 2 Gareth Williams, 1 Taufa'ao Filise.
Replacements: 16 John Yapp, 17 T Rhys Thomas, 18 James Down, 19 Mark Lewis, 20 Rhys Shellard, 21 Jason Spice, 22 Dai Flanagan.

Date: Friday, May 9
Venue: Ravenhill Park, Belfast
Kick-off: 19.30 (18.30 GMT)
Referee: Andy Macpherson (SRU)
Touch Judges: E O'Dowd (IRFU), M Gargan (IRFU)