Henderson injury 'hopefully not too serious'

Richie Murphy has guided Ulster to four wins from their opening five URC fixtures

Ulster head coach Richie Murphy says he is optimistic that the back injury which caused Iain Henderson to withdraw from the starting line-up for Friday's 47-13 United Rugby Championship win over Benetton shortly before kick-off is "not too serious".

The Irish province will be hoping for positive news about the Ulster captain with Friday's European Challenge Cup opener at home to Racing 92 in mind.

"He [Henderson] had actually got through the week training really well and was feeling good, but he landed in a line-out just before the game and got a back spasm, so, hopefully not too serious," Murphy told BBC Sport NI after the game.

Hooker Rob Herring was withdrawn after coming on as a replacement during the game but the Ulster coach explained that move was "precautionary".

"He came on, he rolled his ankle a little bit, so rather than leave him out there limping around on the front row, you can replace him, so we got him out of there."

Ulster recovered from a 13-12 half-time deficit to secure a comprehensive victory over their Italian opponents, scoring seven tries in the process.

Murphy said he was content enough with his side's first-half performance despite their arrears at the interval but demanded his charges be more clinical after the break.

"I thought we were pretty much in control, yet we ended up coming in one point down at half-time so the message was very simple, that we felt like we were doing the right things, to keep doing it, and just a little bit around our accuracy.

"I think we definitely left probably 14 points out there. I suppose the early parts of the game, as we haven't played in five weeks, they played last weekend, which probably gives them a little bit of an advantage.

"But I was really satisfied with the second half, I thought we played some amazing rugby, and loved the way, after coming in at half-time, how they reacted."

'Much more confidence in how we're doing things'

For Ulster, it was a third home URC win of the season in Belfast, following on from a 42-21 success over the Dragons in September and a 28-7 triumph against the Bulls in October.

"I suppose the last couple of home games here have been good wins, and putting big points on opposition, and I think the players are really believing in how we're trying to play the game, they're really bought in, they're really working hard.

"I think there's much more confidence in the way we're doing things, I think our skill work is allowing us to be more accurate in how we're playing and I think Mark Sexton has done a really good job coming in, in that area, you know, we're very much a coaching team and we work really hard together.

"Mark and Willie [Faloon. assistant coaches] are the newest coaches in our team, I think they've had a big impact."

Murphy praised player-of-the-match Jude Postlethwaite as "an absolute handful who is just going to get better and better" and also lauded second row Charlie Irvine, who came in just a few minutes into the match as a replacement for the injured Matty Dalton.

"Charlie Irvine, who was supposed to be playing for Queen's on Saturday, gets on and plays 78 or 77 minutes. A great opportunity for him, which I thought he took really well, in only his second cap."