Jacob Stockdale sustained a facial fracture in Saturday’s Challenge Cup semi-final against Exeter Chiefs. He will see a maxillo-facial surgeon this week to further assess the injury.
Stuart McCloskey (hamstring) and David McCann (knee) were also injured in the game and will have MRI scans to assess the extent of these injuries.
Angus Bell (foot), Rob Herring (calf) and Scott Wilson (ankle) have reintegrated into team training and their fitness for selection for this week will be assessed.
Jude Postlethwaite (calf cramp) and Jack Murphy (cramp) were reported injured in the Exeter game, but no mention in the injury update from Ulster
Sounds like Stockdale is our for the season and losing McCann is a big loss too, but losing McCloskey is the bigger… loss. He might have to be rested again soon hes been doing a lot of mins since the 6 nations. Hopefully Hume and Jude are ok for Friday. Nice to have Herring back, but having Angus and/or Wilson back is important. We have to win at least one of the next 2 games and probably a few bonus points to stay in the top 8, would be nice to get the win in this game going into the last game with a little less pressure.
Update: Adam McKendry reports:
Ulster assistant coach Jimmy Duffy not offering an overly optimistic outlook on the injured trio of McCann, McCloskey and Stockdale: “Those players will be scanned and managed in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully it’s shorter than we think.
and
Better news on the trio of Bell, Herring and Wilson that could be back this weekend: “They’re really good. They’re reintegrated into training today as well, so they’re in a good space. It’s nice to see bodies back around and more competition, which is good.”
Since they didn’t mention Hume returning to training I was assuming he won’t play against Stormers? (The squad updates are a bit inconsistent and sometimes leave gaps in who they include so hard to be sure). Ritchie’s media briefing today will probably reveal more.
Since they didn’t mention Hume returning to training I was assuming he won’t play against Stormers? (The squad updates are a bit inconsistent and sometimes leave gaps in who they include so hard to be sure). Ritchie’s media briefing today will probably reveal more.
In last weeks update they said
James Hume (neck)… have resumed elements of team training and individual decisions regarding their fitness for selection will be made later in the week.
I kind of assumed he was ok, but now you have pointed that out, that could be a bad assumption. Also no mention of Ben Carson , since last weeks update:
Ben Carson (calf) picked up injuries in Saturday’s URC defeat against Munster and are unavailable for selection.
But they do have a history of not mentioning someone in an update and then they are available.
Ideally they go strong as they can here, get 5 points and if Connacht lose ( even with bonus points) then ulster can’t drop out of the top 8, then they can rest against Glasgow so some players are fresh for the final. (Not say that want Connacht, not to get in to the top 8 )
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Angus Bell (14)
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James McCormick (18)
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Tom O’Toole (140)
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Iain Henderson (Capt) (177)
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Charlie Irvine (12)
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Cormac Izuchukwu (52)
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Nick Timoney (181)
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Juarno Augustus (15)
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Nathan Doak (107)
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Jack Murphy (32)
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Zac Ward (27)
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Jude Postlethwaite (45)
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Ethan McIlroy (75)
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Werner Kok (32)
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Michael Lowry (133)
Replacements:
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Tom Stewart (73)
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Eric O’Sullivan (136)
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Scott Wilson (54)
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Harry Sheridan (59)
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Bryn Ward (17)
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Conor McKee (21)
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Jake Flannery (38)
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Wilhelm De Klerk (2)
Strongest team we could put out it looks like (as expected), Hume and Carson must still be out. McIlroy played well against Munster at 13, but expectations were low. De Klerk first game this season. Interesting McCormick is starting and Stewart is on the bench ( no herring yet).
Strong stormers team:
DHL Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Wandisile Simelane, 13 Dan du Plessis, 12 Damian Willemse, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Imad Khan, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Deon Fourie (captain), 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Adré Smith, 3 Sazi Sandi, 2 André-Hugo Venter, 1
Ntuthuko Mchunu.
Replacements: 16 Paul de Villiers, 17 Oli Kebble, 18 Zachary Porthen, 19 Connor Evans, 20 Hacjivah Dayimani, 21 Keke Morabe, 22 Stefan Ungerer, 23 Jurie Matthee.
What a game! I watched the first half live , paused it to put some of the kids to bed, resumed it and just when it went 26-24 it skipped ahead to the 70 min with doak taking his conversion at 31 each, then it kept skiping back to 70mins, one time just before doak got sent off! Premiersports has been a bit balls this year for stuff like that.
But great performance to have a red card and be 7-17 down, to get 3points is fantastic. If munster beat Connacht (and dont get any bonus points) then we are safe, and Cardiff lost today with no points so that result went our way too.
But.. will still need some sort of points against Glasgow I think
Best URC game that I’ve seen this season. We could be disappointed about how it finished but honestly on the balance of the play it was about a fair result. There were many times that Stormers looked like running over us but their finishing was awful. The worst aspect is that Hendy probably will be banned for the CC final and to be honest it is probably justified. Doakie must be gutted but he played so so well.
Next week will be just as stressful no doubt. Fantastic that we are even in this position considering how it was a year ago.