Rugby

Ulster rugby's John Cooney out of Dragons clash

Ulster's John Cooney. Picture by Hugh Russell.
Ulster's John Cooney. Picture by Hugh Russell. Ulster's John Cooney. Picture by Hugh Russell.

JOHN Cooney has been ruled out of the Ulster side to face Dragons in tonight's PRO14 encounter at Kingspan Stadium after failing to recover from a shoulder injury.

Dave Shanahan will again replace the former Connacht scrum-half, who was named in the Ireland squad for the upcoming autumn internationals earlier this week.

Ulster head coach Dan McFarland has named one new cap in his starting line-up with Ireland 7s star Robert Baloucoune named on the wing and Craig Gilroy dropping to the bench with the return of Australian international Henry Speight.

Three Academy players are included in the starting side with Baloucounne joined by loose head prop Eric O'Sullivan in the scrum and Michael Lowry again named at full-back.

It's been an eventful few weeks for former RBAI Schools Cup winning captain Lowry, who captured the headlines after the European defeat to Racing 92 in Paris on Saturday.

Lowry was goaded by former Ireland utility back Simon Zebo in the act of scoring Racing's fifth try near the end of the game.

Top referee Nigel Owens suggested Lowry was owed an apology and, to give him his dues, Zebo did so and went the extra mile by handing Lowry his shirt after the match.

The 20-year-old was unfazed by the incident and seemed more excited by a surge in the number of followers on his social media accounts.

"I didn’t think about an apology, to be fair, at all. I was just thinking next play sort of thing, but looking back on it, it’s nice to see he came over and apologise," said Lowry.

"I think he just got a bit excited, like most people would in front of their home fans in that stadium.

"When I went out on Saturday night I was looking at news feeds and it was all of me and Zebo. I didn’t expect it to be published on every single website.

"My number of followers went up massively so I was over the moon and in terms of that respect it was quite good."

On a more serious note,Lowry has been satisfied with his progress so far, having adjusted to a relatively unfamiliar role after being more used to playing at fly-half.

"I'll be really hard on myself, (if I'm) making little mistakes, that not a lot of people will notice during a game, like if you're meant to be at a certain ruck, maybe things like that but in general, I've been pretty happy to date," he added.

"In the long term, I want to play 10 and if I get back into 10 great but at the minute, I'm really happy to be playing full-back and getting on the team."

Lowry says Ulster can't take the struggling Dragons for granted tonight as the Welsh side attempt to end a dismal away run in the PRO14, having been without a win in their last 35 matches on the road.

"Records like that mean next to nothing as was proved when Connacht beat us up here for the first time in 60-odd years and then we turned around and beat Leicester so it's a new match, a fresh start," he said.

"It’s really important to get a win this weekend. We’ve taken positives from the last couple of weeks, and even in losing to Munster and Connacht.

"We’re creating a lot of opportunities but we’re just not finishing them, so I think it’s important we finish them this weekend and show we that we can be be a good side."