Heineken Champions Cup: Henderson and Marshall ruled out of Ulster's home encounter with Sale

Iain Henderson retires hurt during Saturday's narrow 7-3 defeat by La Rochelle

Iain Henderson and Luke Marshall have been ruled out of Ulster's Heineken Champions Cup Pool B game against Sale Sharks at Kingspan Stadium on Saturday.

Captain Henderson sustained a concussion in last weekend's 7-3 defeat by La Rochelle in France.

Centre Marshall picked up a chest injury during the match.

Fly-half Jake Flannery is unavailable with a hamstring complaint but Billy Burns could return after pulling out of Saturday's game in the warm-up.

Burns was listed among the replacements for the game at Stade Marcel-Deflandre but tweaked his calf prior to the game, with Ben Moxham taking his place on the bench.

Ulster revealed on Tuesday that Burns' availability will be monitored throughout the week.

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Centres Stuart McCloskey and James Hume, plus scrum-half John Cooney and hooker Tom Stewart, could come back into the mix for the meeting with the Premiership side, having been rested against the European champions.

Ulster have lost six of their last seven games in all competitions but a much improved performance in France saw them fall agonisingly short of achieving a famous victory, with the hosts scoring a late try to snatch the win.

In order to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions Cup, Ulster need to defeat the Sharks and hope that Clermont are beaten and do not get a bonus point away to the Stormers on the same day.

Should Ulster win with a bonus point, then they would qualify if Clermont did not pick up two bonus points in Cape Town or Montpellier lost without a bonus point at home to London Irish.

'We're going to give it our all'

Tawera Kerr-Barlow in action against Duane Vermeulen during Ulster's 7-3 defeat by La Rochelle on Saturday

"We've got one last shot in the competition and we're going to give it our all," said Ulster back-row forward Duane Vermeulen.

"It's been a tough time and the young players in particular thrive on confidence so if things aren't going your way it becomes difficult and the big thing is the mental approach.

"The last couple of games we have lost in the last couple of minutes so that's probably the most difficult element for every player in the squad.

"I'm still confident in our ability as a team and hopefully we can add a little bit more on the mental side of the game.

"There are penalties we give away as individuals that we can work on. Every player needs to look at that when we review the game, put your hand up and say 'I made the mistake'.

"As players we need to step up and control the controllables," added the South Africa World Cup winner.