Ulster are set to be with out Iain Henderson and John Cooney of their European Champions Cup opener at Sale on Sunday.
The Eire pair and hooker Tom Stewart needed to come off throughout Ulster’s defeat by Leinster on Saturday below World Rugby’s Head Damage Evaluation course of.
Ulster defence coach Jonny Bell stated Henderson and Cooney are “large doubts”.
“We have to undergo the entire protocols however I would say they’re most likely extremely unlikely [to play],” stated Bell.
Cooney was injured in a collision with James Lowe with Henderson coming off after 56 minutes.
Stewart was changed by Rob Herring after solely 20 minutes with Nathan Doak and Duane Vermeulen taking up from Cooney and Henderson within the third quarter.
Hooker Stewart wanted therapy for a blood harm following the top conflict which resulted in Leinster’s Cian Healy receiving a purple card however his prospects of that includes towards Sale seem higher.
Bell admitted that the Ulster administration and gamers have been “massively upset” by the 38-29 defeat towards their 14-man Irish provincial rivals after main 22-3, including that Ronan Kelleher’s strive simply earlier than half-time which minimize the margin to 12 factors on the break was a vital rating.
“That strive simply earlier than half-time gave them a bit of little bit of hope so we’re upset that second occurred.”
The Ulster defence coach attributed the workforce’s subsequent collapse to an “incapacity to get good subject place”, allied to the error of making an attempt to “shut the sport out reasonably than making an attempt to to win it”.
“However we have had a superb overview at present and the sweetness about this sport is that you’ve a European Cup sport this weekend so there is not any licking your wounds for too lengthy.
“There have been quite a lot of actually good issues that went proper towards Leinster. It simply would not really feel like that if you end up wanting again on the scoreline.
“We have to take these into this sport as a result of Sale are a special animal however an enormous, bodily, aggressive aspect and taking part in very nicely within the Premiership in the intervening time.”