Ulster rocked by injuries to key players ahead of visit of Toulouse

Ulster will have to plan without a number of key players for Friday’s Heineken Champions Cup game against Toulouse at Kingspan Stadium after the province released a fresh injury update today. Andy Farrell's Ireland squad are returning to their provinces this week ahead of the new European season, which kicks-off on Friday night, but there's bad news for Ulster head coach Dan McFarland as some of his senior players have returned to Belfast nursing injuries.
Ulster have confirmed that captain Iain Henderson is due to see a knee specialist after coming off injured during the first half of Ireland's defeat of Scotland on Saturday, and will miss Friday's game against Toulouse as a result.
Henderson's absence represents a major blow for Ulster, who have reached the knock-out stages of the Champions Cup in the last two seasons, as they are also without fellow second-row Kieran Treadwell due to suspension.
Out-half Billy Burns, who recently won his first international cap, will also be sidelined as he recovers from a groin injury.
Meanwhile Rob Lyttle suffered a back injury in Ulster's game against Edinburgh last week and will also be unavailable for selection this week.
McFarland is also without Louis Ludik (concussion), Luke Marshall (knee), Rob Baloucoune (hamstring), Will Addison (back), Angus Curtis (knee) and Tom Stewart (hamstring).
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Was strange game, full of errors and the usual refereeing decisions. Both teams suffered as a result but Ospreys discipline was a major factor. I think this weekend will be different as the Ospreys will pick a full strength team but Scarlets will gain confidence in the fact that only Tipuric was missing in the forwards and they dominated that pack for the whole 80 minutes. If they can repeat that dominance at scrum and breakdown then the Scarlets backs will always have more to offer on the front foot.
Go to commentsAll non-British and Irish players should be excluded anyway. It should be for players born in the UK and Ireland not imports on residency! The Barbarians have sold out and are now a predominantly a SH team and the Lions are going the same way. It would be interesting to see what is on VDM’s passport, probably still South Africa. I feel quite strongly on this and would hope that the Lions committee see it the same way but money talks and so the decline begins.
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