Will Addison: Ulster back out for 'several months' after setback while recovering from back injury
- Published
Will Addison moved to Ulster from Sale in the summer of 2018
Ulster's Will Addison will be out for several more months after suffering a setback during his rehabilitation from a long-term back injury.
The versatile back, who got injured in January, has recently undergone surgery.
Fly-half Billy Burns and centre Stuart McCloskey will miss the province's season opener on Friday at home to Benetton in the Pro14.
Prop Tom O'Toole will be out for several weeks due to an ankle injury.
Burns (calf) and McCloskey (elbow) suffered their injuries in Ulster's Champions Cup quarter-final defeat away to Toulouse on 20 September.
O'Toole, meanwhile, picked up an ankle injury in the side's loss to Leinster in the Pro14 final in Dublin a week earlier.
Andrew Warwick (hip), Luke Marshall (hip), Angus Curtis (knee), and Robert Baloucoune (hamstring) were already unavailable to head coach Dan McFarland.
Addison, 27, has been plagued by injury since his arrival in Belfast from Sale in the summer of 2018.
He missed all of Ireland's three Six Nations matches after first tearing a calf in Ulster's defeat by Clermont-Auvergne on 11 January, before risking his fitness in a Champions Cup game against Bath a week later.