Stade Francais will have to put in a decent performance to overcome an Ulster side that are snapping at their heels and trail the French giants by only one point in Pool 4 of the Heineken Cup.

Ulster head coach Matt Williams will arrive in Paris in good heart following a home win over leaders Harlequins last weekend.

Neither side can progress into the final eight of the competition but both teams will have something to prove and end their campaign on a high.

And Williams has today named a 24 man squad, ahead of this Saturday’s Heineken Cup match against Stade Francais, at the Stade Jean Bouin (KO 2.35pm local time.)

Williams has made a number of rotational changes from the 22 man squad that defeated Harlequins at Ravenhill, the previous week. The rotation will aim to provide a number of younger Ulster player’s with further exposure at ERC level. This rotation will also see a return to the squad for: Stuart Philpot; Declan Fitzpatrick; Niall O’Connor and Rob Dewey.

Speaking about his squad selection, Matt Williams commented: “It was a hard one. There are a lot of guys in the squad who are putting their hands up week after week, and saying they are ready and want to be given a chance. Take Chris Henry, he has been asking me for his chance to start and against Quins he got it, and played tremendously. Players like Ian Whitten and Willie Faloon are saying to me they want to have a go. They have really fought hard for their chance to start, and Saturday’s match may just be that chance. We will look at things over the next few training days and then make our final a decision.”

Darren Cave; Paddy Wallace; Ian Humphreys; Rory Best; Justin Fitzpatrick and Stephen Ferris are all being rested.

BJ Botha, who missed the Harlequins match due to sickness, has returned to full health ahead of the Stade Francais game. Timoci Nagusa; Carlo Del Fava; Robbie Diack; Cillian Willis and TJ Anderson are unavailable for selection due to injury, ahead of Ulster’s last Heineken Cup Pool game in Paris.

Matt Williams will name his match day 22 on Friday 23rd January at 12noon.

ULSTER SQUAD FORWARDS

Bryan Young; Stuart Philpott; Declan Fitzpatrick; Nigel Brady; Tom Court; Brendon Botha; Ed O’Donoghue; Matt McCullough; Kieron Dawson; David Pollock; Chris Henry; Willie Faloon; Ryan Caldwell

ULSTER SQUAD BACKS

Clinton Schifcofske; Bryn Cunningham; Niall O’Connor; Andrew Trimble; Ian Whitten; Paul Marshall; Isaac Boss; Paul Steinmetz; Rob Dewey; Mark McCrea; Simon Danielli