Ulster head coach Dan McFarland has confirmed that star winger Jacob Stockdale is a major doubt for next month’s Guinness Pro14 playoff with Connacht at the Kingspan Stadium.
Stockdale, who injured his hamstring in a recent 29-7 win over Edinburgh at Murrayfield, is ruled out of Saturday's final regular league fixture with Leinster in Belfast.
And the Ireland flier, who has scored seven tries in 11 games for the province this season, faces a race against time to feature against Connacht on May 4.
Asked if there are “fears” Stockdale will be unavailable for the high profile quarter-final, McFarland replied: “Yeah, there are.
“As we said on the last injury report we’re going to keep monitoring him week on week. But there are definitely fears for the Connacht game.”
With captain Rory Best facing a similar race to be fit for Connacht and prop Marty Moore ruled out for the rest of the season with an ankle problem, Ulster could do without another key player on the sidelined list.
McFarland accepts the province can't afford to suffer any further injuries in the front row, but believes Ross Kane impressed as an early replacement for Moore following his injury at Edinburgh.
“Look, losing Marty was obviously disappointing but you all watched Ross play against Edinburgh," he said.
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"I thought he had a terrific game. He scrummed really well against the best scrum in the league, so we’re very happy with that."
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