Pienaar arrived at Ravenhill in the summer but has had to wait for his Belfast bow thanks to a shoulder injury but looks likely to feature against Sean Lineen’s troops after being named by Brian McLaughlin in his 30-man squad.

But McLaughlin will be without Stephen Ferris, who picked up a shoulder injury in Galway against Connacht last time out, and BJ Botha who collected a wrist injury in the same game.

It is unclear just how long the pair will be missing but Ulster are boosted with Scotland winger Simon Danielli being included for the first time this season after missing the first few weeks due to a shoulder injury.

With props Botha, Declan Fitzpatrick and Adam Macklin all unavailable because of injury, Instonians' Alan Whitten, a brother of Ulster centre Ian Whitten, is included in the squad.

The other props in the 30-man squad are Tom Court, Paddy McAllister and Brian Young.

Ulster squad (from): Tom Court, Paddy McAllister, Bryan Young, Nigel Brady, Alan Whitten, Rory Best, Andi Kyriacou, Tim Barker, Johann Muller, Ryan Caldwell, Dan Tuohy, Willie Faloon, Chris Henry, Robbie Diack, TJ Anderson, Pedrie Wannenburg, Adam D'Arcy. David McIlwaine, Jamie Smith, Simon Danielli, Andrew Trimble, Paul Emerick, Darren Cave, Ian Whitten, Paddy Wallace, Ian Humphreys, Niall O'Connor, Paul Marshall, Ian Porter, Ruan Pienaar