Former Ulster lock Mick Kearney believes his old side have the edge over local rivals Munster when the two meet in Thomond Park this Saturday.
Ulster come into the BKT United Rugby Championship off the back of a thrilling 39-37 victory away to the Lions, although their most recent outing against the Sharks was postponed following a gastroenteritis outbreak in their touring squad in South Africa.
Kearney believes that the game could be won and lost in the pack and he feels that Ulster have the advantage, particularly after Ireland head coach Andy Farrell revealed that Ireland squad members won't be available for their provinces this weekend.
That would leave Munster without the likes of Joey Carbery, Craig Casey, Conor Murray, Tadgh Beirne and Peter O'Mahony and while Ulster will be without some big names of their own, for Kearney, that they are better positioned to cope with absences.
Speaking on the RTÉ Rugby Podcast, he said: "I think Munster are definitely losing a little bit more than Ulster, particularly from a pack point of view.
"You have Eric O’Sullivan, Rory Sutherland, John Andrew at hooker, Declan Moore. You have Marty Moore at tighthead, you have Al O’Connor who is a spiritual leader up there along with Sam Carter who is a test international for Australia.
"The Reas [Marcus and Matty] have been playing incredibly well along with Duane [Vermeulen], who I don’t know if it’s he’s going to be in the South Africa camp but as back-up to him you have Dave McCann who had a really good tour in South Africa with the emerging.
"Purely from a pack point of view, I think Ulster will edge it there.
"I didn’t realise that James Hume was available to play so I wouldn’t be surprised to see Luke Marshall slip into 12 and James go to 13."
Kearney expects Paddy Patterson and Neil Cronin to come under major pressure and questions whether they can get the better of Ulster.
"Looking at Munster you have Paddy Patterson and Neil Cronin and you’re not 100% sure," he said.
"I thought Paddy Patterson was excellent when he came on the last day. He’s a quality player and obviously someone I played with at Leinster and he gets the ball away really quickly and has a good kicking game as well.
"They’re going to be up against John Cooney and Neil Doak so there’s probably a small bit of advantage in the key positions with Ulster."
"It’s going to be a great game, it’s going to be a really interesting game to watch because Munster obviously have the advantage of being at home and Ulster have been relatively unsuccessful in going there in recent years."
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Watch Munster v Ulster and Ospreys v Connacht in the BKT United Rugby Championship on Saturday 29 October from 4.45pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
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