Ulster's Henderson and Hume to miss rest of season
Henderson has played for Ulster for 12 years while Hume made his debut in 2018
- Published
Ulster captain Iain Henderson and team-mate James Hume face lengthy lay-offs after having surgery on Monday.
Ireland lock Henderson, who had toe surgery, is expected to be sidelined for approximately three months and will likely miss his country's summer tour of South Africa.
Centre Hume has a knee injury and "will enter a period of rehab for the coming months".
Ulster host Irish rivals Leinster on Saturday in their penultimate United Rugby Championship (URC) game of the season.
Luke Marshall (concussion) and Robert Baloucoune (hamstring) picked up injuries in training and will miss the Kingspan Stadium encounter.
Sean Reffell and Tom O'Toole are doubts for the derby although Ulster head coach Richie Murphy confirmed that O'Toole had been training and "should" make the game.
Murphy, who was confirmed in the role permanently on Monday, is well aware of the challenge posed by Leinster but believes from his own experience, the European Champions Cup finalists will wary of their visit to Belfast this weekend.
"Playing Leinster is always difficult, no matter where you play them," Murphy said.
"I've been in the Leinster camp coming up to Ulster many a time, and they don't find it an easy place to come.
"If the ground can be as good as it has been in the last two home games, I think they [the crowd] can have a big part to play in the game, and us, as Ulster, need to make sure we turn up and start from minute on, and try to put them under some pressure."
When the two sides met in Dublin on January 1, Ulster held on for a famous 22-21 win. For Saturday's meeting, Murphy will be without five of the starters from that game at the RDS.
"We're a little bit under pressure in terms of some of the players we're missing but it always gives other lads an opportunity to come out and stake their claim for the jersey.
"We know that they've got some class players - no matter who turns up - so it's going to be a big test for us to see where we are at.
"There are definitely certain elements of our game that we are not happy with at the moment but behind closed doors we are working really hard to try and fix that."