Irish Rugby

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Former Ireland centre Sene Naoupu has become the chief executive of North Otago Rugby Football Union in New Zealand.

Naoupu, who was born in New Zealand and has Samoan heritage, becomes the first Pasifika female CEO of a provincial union in the country.

Pasifika is a term used to describe residents of New Zealand who are descendants of the Pacific Islands.

Naoupu, 40, made her debut for Ireland in 2015 and won 48 caps before retiring in 2022.

She qualified for Ireland through residency and won the Six Nations Grand Slam in her first season as an international.

Naoupu said she was "honoured" to be appointed to the role and help "future-proof rugby" in her home province.

"This role holds deep, personal significance as I return to where my rugby journey began after 15 years abroad,” Naoupu said.

“I’m grateful for the international opportunities to contribute to the game at every level - globally, nationally and regionally - and have gained insights and experiences from world-class people, organisations, competitions and teams."

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Fit-again Stuart McCloskey has been named in a much-changed Ulster team for Friday's United Rugby Championship game against Ospreys in Belfast (19:35 BST).

Ireland centre McCloskey, who missed the win over Connacht with knee and ankle injuries he picked up in the defeat by the Lions in South Africa, returns to form a new centre partnership with Ben Carson.

Mike Lowry replaces Ethan McIlroy at full-back in the other change to the backline while head coach Richie Murphy has made six alterations to his pack.

Eric O'Sullivan and James McCormick are the two front-row changes, replacing Andy Warwick and John Andrew, while Alan O'Connor will captain the side from the second row with Iain Henderson having been ruled out through concussion.

Emerging Ireland players Harry Sheridan and Cormac Izuchukwu also return while Marcus Rea is recalled to the back row with Dave McCann switching to number eight.

Prop Scott Wilson, another Emerging Ireland tourist, is named on the bench.

Ulster are aiming for an eighth successive home win in the URC and have not lost to Ospreys in Belfast since 2013.

Ulster: Mike Lowry, Werner Kok, Ben Carson, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale, Aidan Morgan, John Cooney; Eric O’Sullivan, James McCormick, Tom O’Toole; Alan O’Connor (capt), Harry Sheridan; Cormac Izuchukwu, Marcus Rea, Dave McCann;

Replacements: Tadgh McElroy, Callum Reid, Scott Wilson, Kieran Treadwell and Matty Rea, Nathan Doak, James Humphreys, Jude Postlethwaite.

Ospreys: Jack Walsh; Dan Kasende, Evardi Boshoff, Owen Williams, Keelan Giles; Dan Edwards, Kieran Hardy; Gareth Thomas, Sam Parry, Ben Warren, Will Greatbanks, Lewis Jones, Lewis Lloyd, Justin Tipuric, Morgan Morris (capt).

Replacements: Ethan Lewis, Garyn Phillips, Math Iowerth-Scott, Rhys Thomas, Dan Gemine, Reuben Morgan-Williams, Tom Florence, Max Nagy.

Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR)

Assistant referees: Andrew Cole & Andrew Fogarty (IRFU)

TMO: Matteo Liperini (FIR)

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Ulster assistant coach Dan Soper has said Connacht hooker Dave Heffernan's tackle on Iain Henderson which led to the latter suffering a concussion in last weekend's United Rugby Championship game "didn't look great".

Ireland second row Henderson was withdrawn 15 minutes into Ulster's win and failed his head injury assessment, with the club subsequently ruling him out of Friday's game against Ospreys.

Heffernan's challenge was not reviewed by the officials at the time with Soper suggesting that not doing so was not in keeping with trying to make rugby safer.

"My thoughts initially were it didn’t look great, did it?," said Soper.

"But everyone’s had a good look and we all have our opinions on it. The decision was made at the time, it is what it is.

"We’re trying to keep the game safer, but it wasn’t quite the case on Saturday night, was it?"

Henderson joins a growing list of players currently unavailable to Ulster. Centre Stewart Moore sustained a shoulder injury in the Connacht game and will also miss the Ospreys fixture, while fellow backs Jude Postlethwaite and Ethan McIlroy are doubts.

Rob Baloucoune, Jake Flannery, James Hume, Rob Herring and Tom Stewart remain out with longer term injuries, but centre Stuart McCloskey and prop Eric O'Sullivan have returned to training.

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Ulster captain Iain Henderson will sit out their United Rugby Championship visit from Ospreys on Friday.

The Ireland international suffered a concussion in their win against Connacht last weekend and will now follow World Rugby graduated return protocols.

Centre Stewart Moore sustained a shoulder injury in the same game and will also miss the Ospreys fixture, while fellow backs Jude Postlethwaite and Ethan McIlroy are doubts.

Rob Baloucoune, Jake Flannery, James Hume, Rob Herring and Tom Stewart remain out with longer term injuries, but centre Stuart McCloskey and prop Eric O'Sullivan have returned to training.

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Ulster and Ireland centre James Hume admits his recovery from an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) surgery has been "mentally challenging" but remains on course to return during the Six Nations window.

The 26-year-old damaged his knee against Cardiff in April having been plagued by injuries in recent seasons.

"It's flat-out," he told BBC Radio Ulster's Sportsound of his recovery.

"Mentally challenging but I'm loving every bit of it. It's a completely different challenge to get back."

While needing to make sure he is "100% ready to go" before getting back on the pitch, Hume is expecting to return before the spring.

"I'm hoping to be back in early February but it's not set in stone," he added.

"It'll just be whenever I'm fully 100% ready to go. It's going as good as it can be so far."

Ulster secured their second win of the United Rugby Championship season against Connacht at Kingspan Stadium on Saturday night with Hume "excited" by the performances of Richie Murphy's young side.

"This is the most different I've felt from season to season with so many senior lads going and new, young faces given more responsibility, coming up and finding their voice."

"It's great to see so many young lads getting involved in that process early on.

"Everyone should be excited to see what they've got in the future."

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Ulster head coach Richie Murphy says his side's hard-earned 32-27 win over Connacht at Kingspan Stadium on Saturday was "massive for us".

Ulster scored five tries to Connacht's four in an action-packed Irish interprovincial derby to end a two-game losing run.

"Five points at home was exactly what we needed to get back into the competition, which was made very difficult by a really good Connacht team," Murphy told BBC Sport NI.

"Some of their attack stuff has been excellent this year so far and they didn’t disappoint tonight again."

Murphy was particularly pleased with the way his team went about their task.

"Our toughness and fight and commitment was really good.

"There are things we need to be way better at - like overplaying in our area and not looking after the ball well enough at those times which caused us a lot of trouble – in fairness to Connacht they capitalised on that - but we're delighted with the win."

The northern province used the rolling maul to good effect against their western counterparts.

"To get a couple of maul tries is big for us, something that Ulster would have been built on back in the day, but we haven’t been able to capitalise on those in the past while.

"It was really nice to see the lads get over the line there. The last couple of weeks once we’ve got in and around that goal-line we haven’t been finishing off some of those tries but I thought we did really well today."

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Ulster fly-half Aidan Morgan says he is "super-excited" for the province's first Irish interprovincial game of the season against Connacht at Kingspan Stadium on Saturday night, a contest which will be broadcast live on BBC Two NI and BBC iPlayer.

The 23-year-old New Zealand native joined the Irish province from the Hurricanes on a two-year contract at the start of the campaign.

Ulster began their United Rugby Championship term with a narrow win over Glasgow in Belfast, followed by reverses on the road at the hands of the Lions and the Bulls.

"I know how important these interpro games are for the club and the senior boys are really leading the week in terms of what a win will mean for the team and for the fans," said Morgan.

"We ground out a really hard victory last time here [against Glasgow at Kingspan Stadium] so we’re looking to do the same.

"Although the results in South Africa weren't what we were looking for, it was nice to spend some time with the lads and get to know them a bit better.

"We’re working really hard as a team to fix up the few areas where we probably let ourselves down in South Africa. We know it’s a really big challenge this weekend but the boys are ready to step up."

'Parts of my game to improve on'

Irish-qualified Morgan cites a desire to further develop his game as one of the reasons for his move from New Zealand to Ulster.

"There are always improvements to be made to my game and the big thing Richie is working with me is leading the team around and leading the attack especially.

"I feel there are parts of my game that I’m really happy with but there’s a lot to improve on as well that I’m working on behind the scenes."

Saturday's encounter could see Morgan lock horns with All Black Josh Ioane, a fellow number 10, who also plays at full-back and centre. He joined Connacht from the Chiefs in the summer.

“I know Josh [Ioane] really well. He’s a top player, a really skilful first five and a really good ball carrier too," reflected Morgan.

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James Ryan returns to the Leinster side to partner former Munster player RG Snyman in the second row for Saturday's sold-out interprovincial United Rugby Championship game at Croke Park (17:45 BST).

Ryan's inclusion is one of three changes from the team which started last weekend's 35-5 win over Benetton in Italy.

Liam Turner is selected on the wing, replacing the injured Jimmy O'Brien, and hooker Lee Barron comes in at hooker.

Munster make four personnel changes and one positional switch after securing a bonus-point win over Ospreys last week.

Fit-again centre Alex Nankivell returns from a shoulder injury after missing his side's last two games.

Sean O'Brien starts on the wing after returning from Emerging Ireland's tour to South Africa.

Prop Stephen Archer makes his first start of the season in place of injured tight-head Oli Jager, with Gavin Coombes returning to the starting XV at number eight and Jack O'Donoghue moving to blindside flanker in the absence of the injured Peter O'Mahony.

Mike Haley is fit to start at full-back while Tom Ahern is named among the replacements after recovering from an ankle injury suffered against Ulster in June.

Three academy players are included among the Munster replacements - prop Kieran Ryan, flanker Ruadhán Quinn and winger Shay McCarthy.

Leinster are top of the URC table after winning their opening three games while third-placed Munster are four points behind.

The match will be played in front of a sold-out crowd of 82,000 at the home of gaelic games in Ireland as Leinster's RDS home is being redeveloped.

Leinster: Hugo Keenan; Liam Turner, Garry Ringrose, Jamie Osborne, James Lowe; Ciaran Frawley, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Lee Barron, Tadhg Furlong; RG Snyman, James Ryan; Jack Conan, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (capt).

Replacements: Gus McCarthy, Cian Healy, Thomas Clarkson, Ryan Baird, Max Deegan, Luke McGrath, Ross Byrne, Harry Byrne.

Munster: Mike Haley; Calvin Nash, Tom Farrell, Alex Nankivell, Seán O’Brien; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey; Jeremy Loughman, Niall Scannell, Stephen Archer; Jean Kleyn, Tadhg Beirne (capt); Jack O’Donoghue, John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes.

Replacements: Diarmuid Barron, Kieran Ryan, John Ryan, Tom Ahern, Ruadhán Quinn, Conor Murray, Tony Butler, Shay McCarthy.

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Ulster back row Nick Timoney believes the new wave of talent in the Irish province's squad is "really exciting and really good".

Following the retirements of several senior players in recent years, the 29-year-old finds himself as one of the more experienced members of Richie Murphy's panel.

The Ireland international says that while defeats by the Lions and the Bulls on Ulster's tour of South Africa were disappointing, the trip offered up an opportunity for younger players to learn and gain valuable match-time.

James McCormick, Ben Carson and academy lock Charlie Irvine made their first Ulster starts in Saturday's 47-21 loss to the Bulls, with hooker Tadgh McElroy and development fly-half, James Humphreys also making their debuts off the bench.

Carson scored a try while Humphreys kicked two conversions.

"It sometimes feels like not a lot [what you get out of a tour with two defeats] but then there’s the blooding of young lads getting their first chance and from a squad point of view you get used to playing with some new faces and get to spend more time with each other," said Timoney.

"There’s been a huge turnover in the squad over the last couple of years so it’s good from an off-the-field perspective too, getting to know some of the younger lads.

"I don’t really feel old but you look around and the rest of the lads are 21 or 22 and then you maybe do feel a bit old. I think loads of them are really exciting and really good. We have loads of talent coming through and I will try and help those lads come through as best as possible and put the club in the best place we possibly can."

Before travelling to South Africa, Ulster began their United Rugby Championship campaign with a last-gasp home win over Glasgow and Murphy's side next face Connacht in their first interprovincial game of the season on Saturday.

"You know exactly what’s coming [playing Connacht], you play them so often and you watch all their games, whereas you go to South Africa you may get different players playing, you have to do a bit more research,” explained Timoney.

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Ulster Rugby have signed prop Bryan O'Connor to their squad.

The 25-year-old from Cork was most recently playing with Bedford Blues in the English second tier having previously represented Gloucester Rugby and been involved with the Ireland Under-20s.

Ulster's front-row stocks were diminished by the retirement of 10-times capped Irish international Marty Moore last month, while Scott Wilson has been absent due to Emerging Ireland duty.

“I’m delighted to sign with the province and I’m looking forward to getting integrated into the squad," said O'Connor.

"I feel I can add to the group here and can improve my game under the coaching staff. I’m excited to get going for the rest of the season.”

Ulster Rugby’s head of recruitment and rugby operations Bryn Cunningham added that O'Connor will add to the "squad depth" at Kingspan Stadium.

“Bryan has had a few years playing over in England and we feel, with his physical profile, there was an opportunity to bring him in and add to our squad depth at tighthead," he said.

"Bryan joins a front row with a similar age-profile and we look forward to seeing his development and contribution over the season ahead.”

After back-to-back losses against the Lions and Bulls in South Africa, Ulster face their first interprovincial derby of the United Rugby Championship season against Connacht in Belfast on Saturday.