Ulster coach Dan McFarland has revealed the Covid-19 crisis played a key role in ruling captain Iain Henderson out of next month’s European showdown with Toulouse.
Henderson was due to undergo surgery on a hip injury earlier in the year, but constraints on the health service around coronavirus detonated those plans.
It means the influential lock, who had his op at a later date, will miss Ulster ’s return to action and is doubtful for the resumption of Ireland’s Six Nations campaign on October 24.
Henderson is ruled out for eight to 10 weeks, meaning he’ll definitely miss two Interpros against Connacht and Leinster behind closed doors at The Aviva on August 23 and 29.
He’ll also sit out a potential Pro14 semi-final and final in early-September and Ulster’s Champions Cup quarter-final with Toulouse on September 20.
“It was a planned operation,” said McFarland. “His hip had been giving him trouble for a while and we’d been talking about when to get the operation done.
“Unfortunately, the Covid situation meant a lot of surgeries were delayed and put back and that was the case for Iain.
“We could have potentially put it off longer, but with these kind of things, it just needs to get done. We needed to get it done as soon as we could.”
While Henderson’s loss is a major blow, McFarland is confident other second rows like Alan O’Connor and Kieran Treadwell will step up to the plate.
Sam Carter is also back training after enduring an injury hit debut season, although next week’s Connacht clash in Dublin may come too early for the former Wallaby.
McFarland said: “Sam’s been out for a long time, so are we expecting him to produce the quality of the work he’ll produce the fitter he gets? No we’re not.
“He’s not going to jump straight back in and be firing on all cylinders, but he’s been going pretty well in training.”
A further setback for Ulster is the fact versatile Ireland back Will Addison, who recently signed a new two year contract, is back in rehab following another back injury.
Addison missed out on the World Cup in Japan with injury while a calf injury sustained playing for Ulster n January ruled him out of the start of the Six Nations.
“Backs are complicated issues, it’s been niggling at him for a while and it’s really frustrating for Will - I feel for him,” said McFarland.
“He has a history of back (problems) over the last while and he has dealt with it really well, but this episode has set him back.
“His rehab is progressing well but it’s not something that’s straightforward.
"It’s not like an ACL where you say ‘we can pretty much tell you you’ll be back on this date’. It isn’t like that.
"The help that he’s getting from the medical performance team here and the IRFU has been excellent and we’ll see where it takes us.”
