Glasgow's John Barclay recovers in time to face Ulster

The 23-year-old was forced to withdraw from the starting XV during the warm-up prior to the Warriors' 27-19 victory over Newport-Gwent Dragons two weeks ago.

But head coach Sean Lineen is delighted to have his first-choice openside back available, hailing his performance in the defeat at Munster three weeks ago.

"John gave his absolute all against Munster where he was absolutely outstanding," said Lineen. "I haven't seen a performance like that from a seven in a long time. However, we need the back-row to step up as a group, and the front five have a huge job to do in order to give us the platform for success."

Victory tomorrow night would lift Glasgow back into a play-off place and Lineen added: "Every game is a knockout game, so this Friday is massive for us. Ulster have won on their last three visits to Firhill and they always get a good following here in Glasgow.

"But our support has been fantastic all season and I've no doubt that the Glasgow fans will make the most noise and really get behind the players."

Scotland captain Chris Cusiter has shaken of a calf injury sufficiently to win a place on the bench as Mark McMillan continues at scrum-half.

Meanwhile, Ulster head coach Brian McLaughlin has named a 27-man squad for tomorrow's game as he bids to bounce back from Tuesday night's defeat to the Ospreys at Ravenhill.

The loss saw them slump to their fourth consecutive league defeat and leaves them vulnerable to missing out on next season's Heineken Cup should Connacht overhaul them over the course of the final few games.

ULSTER SQUAD

Forwards: Declan Fitzpatrick, Bryan Young, BJ Botha, Nigel Brady, Andy Kyriacou, Ed O'Donoghue, Dan Tuohy, Ryan Caldwell, Chris Henry, Tom Court, Stephen Ferris, Robbie Diack, TJ Anderson, David Pollock, Willie Faloon.

Backs: Jamie Smith, Paul Marshall, Simon Danielli, Darren Cave, Ian Whitten, Nevin Spence, Ian Humphreys, Niall O'Connor, Isaac Boss, Andrew Trimble, Jonny Shiells, Tommy Seymour