Ulster

Image source, Getty Images

Stormers and South Africa prop Steven Kitshoff has revealed a neck injury he sustained in a scrum earlier this year left him "two millimetres from death".

The 32-year-old, who spent the 2023-24 season with Irish province Ulster, did not initially realise the severity of the issue sustained in a Currie Cup match for Western Province against Griquas in September.

He had surgery on the injury last month and faces a long recovery before he can return to playing.

"It was just another scrum, then three cracking noises - pop, pop, pop," Kitshoff told Rapport newspaper.

"I kept playing, thinking it was a pulled muscle. But now I know, I was two millimetres away from catastrophe, from death.

"The first thing the specialist said to me was 'listen, you're lucky we didn't bury you in a week', because the vertebra that shifted is so close to my brain canal."

Kitshoff's most recent Test appearance for South Africa came in the World Cup final against New Zealand last year but he has not given up hope of adding to his 83 international caps.

"Without the operation, I'd never play rugby again," he added.

"If my neck holds up, I'm going for it. If I have to retire, I'll be satisfied but I'm not done yet. I've always been a warrior for my team.

"Rugby's a dangerous sport, but I'll give my all because I'm fighting for my team."

Image source, Inpho

Ulster have a long list of injury doubts for Friday night's United Rugby Championship encounter against Irish rivals Munster at Kingspan Stadium.

Iain Henderson, Cormac Izuchukwu, Nick Timoney, Werner Kok, Nathan Doak and Aidan Morgan all picked up injuries in the Investec Champions Cup defeat by Bordeaux on Saturday.

Ulster said on Monday that the six players will be "monitored through training this week to ascertain their fitness to play in Friday's fixture".

Ben Carson and Stewart Moore, who were injured in Ulster's opening Champions Cup game against Toulouse, are "ongoing doubts" for the inter-provincial showdown.

However, there was some good news for Ulster with scrum-half John Cooney available for selection after resuming full team training.

Munster's weekend defeat by Castres also came at a cost with Craig Casey needing surgery after he sustained a meniscus injury.

Thaakir Abrahams dislocated his shoulder and will have scans to determine whether he requires surgery.

Dian Bleuler was removed after failing his head injury assessment and is following the return-to-play protocols while Diarmuid Barron passed his HIA and will be monitored following a shoulder injury.

Peter O'Mahony is a doubt with a calf contusion and Jean Kleyn is seeing a specialist for a thigh injury.

Image source, Inpho

Zac Ward enjoyed his first appearance for Ulster despite the 40-19 defeat by Bordeaux in the Investec Champions Cup on Saturday.

Ulster led 19-14 at the break in Belfast before the French visitors hit 26 unanswered points in the second half.

Ward impressed for Ireland Sevens in the Paris Olympics before joining the Ulster squad on a trial at the start of this season.

"Yeah, very conflicting [emotions] - I was personally really happy to get my first cap, it was a bit of a boyhood dream come true," said the 26-year-old wing.

"But obviously it would have been quite nice to top it off with a win. We started really well, we had a really good first 40 minutes. We stuck to our gameplan, we imposed ourselves well and cause Bordeaux a lot of trouble.

"In the second half - I'm not too sure what happened - the next thing we knew we were 30 odd points to 19 down so we'll have to look back and try to fix what went wrong for next week against Munster."

It was a fourth straight defeat for Ulster as they prepare to face their Irish rivals at Kingspan Stadium on Friday night.

Ward has settled well at Ulster and hopes to keep his spot in the team for the Munster showdown.

"I'm loving it - I was definitely ready for the change off the back of the Olympics and ever since I've come into Ulster I've felt really welcomed.

"I was relatively happy with how I played [against Bordeaux] and I thought I played to my strengths which was with ball in hand.

"So hopefully I can get in the team against for next week and try to do more of the same."

Matt Gault
BBC Sport NI at Kingspan Stadium

Image source, Getty Images

Ulster head coach Richie Murphy was left frustrated after his side failed to take advantage of a strong first-half performance in Saturday's Investec Champions Cup defeat by Bordeaux.

The Irish province scored three tries to lead 19-14 at the break but were cut open in the second half as Bordeaux scored 26 unanswered points to secure a bonus-point victory.

"[I'm] definitely frustrated," said Murphy, who refused to comment on Yoram Moefana's yellow card for a high tackle on Nick Timoney.

"Looking at the first half first, I thought we put some good stuff together and put a very good team under a lot of pressure. There were a couple of breakdowns we missed and they take the ball off you if you're not accurate in the outside channels, obviously that was disappointing.

"The territory and possession that we had in the first half, we probably didn't make a good enough impression with what we had.

"The second half, their bench came on, the physicality of the game just went up and we couldn't survive it."

Ulster have now lost their past four games - Cardiff, Leinster, Toulouse and Bordeaux - but Murphy insists his side are "getting better".

"I think the first half shows that," added Murphy.

"But in order to be able to play against these types of teams, you need to be able to last 80 minutes and at the moment we're not quite able to do that."

Image source, Inpho

Bordeaux Begles fly-half Joey Carbery is looking forward to a "special" trip to Ulster in the Champions Cup on Saturday afternoon.

The 29-year-old former Leinster and Munster player will be taking on Irish opposition for the first time since he switched to the Top 14 side this summer and gets the nod in the 10 jersey after coming off the bench in last week's win over Leicester Tigers.

Having won 37 Ireland caps between 2016 and '22, Carbery has played with a number of those who will be in opposition at Kingspan Stadium, while he has plenty of experience of visiting Belfast with his previous employers.

"That rivalry is always there," Carbery said.

"It'll be interesting to see what it's like going over with UBB.

"It's very special for me to be going over with UBB to play in Ireland. I'll have family coming up to it, so I'm looking forward to it."

Carbery is not the only Irishman involved with Bordeaux. County Clare native Noel McNamara is also the side's attack coach.

Both offered their insights to the wider panel this week, including warning that Ulster will be a different proposition to the side who conceded 61 points in defeat to Toulouse last week when back at Kingspan Stadium.

"With Munster, I only went up there once or twice when we won," Carbery added.

"It's a difficult place to go and win, they're always on top of their game there.

"I tried to get that across, that no matter what happened last week, they'll be a different team this week."

Image source, Getty Images

Zac Ward will make his senior debut for Ulster as part of a much-changed team for Saturday's Investec Champions Cup game against Bordeaux-Begles at Kingspan Stadium.

Ward, who shone for Ireland sevens in the Paris Olympics before joining the Ulster squad at the start of this season, starts on the left wing.

His inclusion is one of 10 personnel changes from the side that began last week's 61-21 defeat by holders Toulouse in France.

Jude Postlethwaite is drafted in at centre, with Michael Lowry moving to full-back.

Head coach Richie Murphy has opted to change his entire pack, with seven Ireland internationals named among the forwards.

Hooker Rob Herring makes his first Ulster start of the campaign and is joined in the front row by Eric O'Sullivan and Tom O'Toole.

In the second row Iain Henderson returns to captain the side for the Pool 1 fixture as he makes his 50th European appearance, where he is joined by Kieran Treadwell.

Cormac Izuchukwu and Nick Timoney are the flankers, with David McCann selected at number eight.

Aidan Morgan and Nathan Doak again make up the half-back partnership.

Academy utility back Rory Telfer is in line for his senior debut off the bench while James Humphreys could make a maiden Champions Cup appearance if he is called upon.

Ulster: Lowry; Kok, Postlethwaite, McCloskey, Ward; Morgan, Doak; O'Sullivan, Herring, O'Toole; Henderson (capt), Treadwell; Izuchukwu, Timoney, McCann.

Replacements: Andrew, Warwick, Wilson, Sheridan, Marcus Rea, Shanahan, Humphreys, Telfer.

Image source, Inpho

Former Ulster scrum-half Neil Doak has been named the new head coach of the Ireland Under-20s.

The 52-year-old succeeds another former Ulster player in Willie Faloon, who had led the group to the semi-finals of the World Rugby Under-20 Championship during the summer.

Doak, a former Ireland cricket international, worked with Faloon as a senior coach at that tournament in South Africa having joined the ticket after previous head coach Richie Murphy departed to take the top job at Ulster in March.

He previously served as both attack coach and interim head coach with Ulster, and has also worked with Worcester Warriors, Georgia and Emerging Ireland.

Doak's first game in charge will be a friendly against Italy on 20 December in Dublin as part of the side's preparations for the 2025 Six Nations.

Ireland's championship begins against England in Cork on 30 January before a trip to Scotland on 8 February.

They will also face visits to Wales and Italy, with the hosting of France in between.

Image source, Getty Images

Ulster's Ben Carson and Stewart Moore are doubts for Saturday's Investec Champions Cup pool game with Bordeaux (15:15 GMT), but John Cooney could return.

In a squad update on Tuesday, the club said full-back Moore and centre Carson, suffered soft tissue contusions as they were forced off in the first half of Sunday's heavy defeat by Toulouse.

Scrum-half Cooney, who has been linked with a move away from Ulster, missed the Toulouse game with a hamstring issue.

However, the 34-year-old has resumed training and will be monitored before Bordeaux's visit to Kingspan Stadium.

Ulster have also confirmed wing Ben Moxham is set to miss the remainder of the season after tearing an anterior cruciate ligament in the United Rugby Championship defeat by Leinster on 29 November.

Last week, head coach Richie Murphy said the 23-year-old was set to see a knee surgeon and the club has confirmed he is expected to spend nine months on the sidelines.

Head coach Richie Murphy is already without Robert Baloucoune (calf), Jake Flannery (ankle), Jacob Stockdale (hamstring), Ethan McIlroy (ankle), Sean Reffell (ankle), James Hume (knee), Callum Reid (knee) and Tom Stewart (ankle).

Having been hammered 61-21 by holders Toulouse, Ulster are hoping to bounce back at home to Bordeaux, who are second in the France's Top 14 league.

Bordeaux opened their European campaign with an impressive 42-28 win over Leicester on Sunday.

Image source, Inpho

Ulster head coach Richie Murphy said his side's basics were not at the level required for the challenge of a "European juggernaut" after they suffered a heavy defeat in Toulouse.

The visitors shipped nine tries in their Champions Cup opener at the Stade Ernest-Wallon and were beaten 61-21 by the holders.

"Very tough," said Murphy of the experience.

"Conceding 61 points wasn't part of the plan. A lot of our basics weren't at the level they needed to be.

"Some of our defence and our breakdown just wasn't at the level we needed."

Ulster have won just two of their past 11 games in the Champions Cup and have conceded at least 30 points in eight of those fixtures.

Murphy said it is important for his squad to continue to focus on gradual improvement.

"We also need to be careful that we don't listen to too much stuff that's happening outside.

"We have to concentrate on our own game and make sure that we're getting better.

"We've shown signs that we're improving all through the season from where we were last year and we've run into a European juggernaut and we weren't at the races."

Ulster face another of the competition's favourites, Bordeaux-Begles, back in Belfast on Saturday.

"Obviously we're disappointed, the players are disappointed," Murphy added.

"We don't go out there to get those basic errors wrong.

"You start there and you work towards getting a performance in six days' time against Bordeaux."

Image source, Inpho

Ulster open their Investec Champions Cup campaign with a daunting trip to holders and six-time champions Toulouse on Sunday (15:15 GMT).

On Tuesday, Ulster head coach Richie Murphy spoke to reporters. Here's a breakdown of some of what he spoke about.

On Ulster's progress against his expectations:

"It's probably slightly below where we wanted to be. We've had a tough run of games as well, we've played the top three teams in the league at the moment and been in South Africa in the Highveld.

"Between the Cardiff and Leinster games, we probably should be at least one better but we're a young side and we're going to have ups and downs."

On facing a star-studded Toulouse:

"Excitement? Maybe. Fear? Probably a little bit. You look at their team, they're two or three deep international wise in nearly every position.

"But there are things in their team that you look at and think there are opportunities. It's whether you can be good enough to take that."

On Zac Ward's fitness and future:

"Zac is back fit. He has passed all the return to play protocols for this weekend. Zac is progressing well, obviously he had never played on the wing before coming in with us. Coming in from the Sevens he has shown some really good growth over the last number of weeks.

"Zac is on an IRFU contract at the moment. We are in conversations with him about going forward from here."

"We're positive about his progress and over the next number of weeks we might see him out there in a white jersey."

On whether Ulster need a 'medical joker' to solve back-three injury problems:

"No, not at the moment. We've brought Rob Lyttle [former Ulster wing] back in for a couple of weeks. We'll see how that progresses. We also have a few academy players who we want to try and bring through. Between them, we're actually OK.

"If someone else were to get injured, that could become an issue then."

On Ulster's Irish internationals being in the mix for Sunday:

"The internationals all returned to training yesterday (Monday). They obviously haven't been with us for five weeks. Cormac Izuchukwu, Iain Henderson, Rob Herring, Tom O'Toole and Stuart McCloskey have all returned from international camp.

Image source, Getty Images

Ulster head coach Richie Murphy says the club do not want to see Jacob Stockdale and John Cooney leave, but added the "group will move on without" any player who departs.

Reports in France have linked Ireland wing Stockdale and scrum-half John Cooney, both of whom are out of contract at the end of the season, with moves to the Top 14.

Stockdale, 28, has worked his way back into the Ireland set-up recently, starting the November Test win over Fiji.

Cooney, 34, has been a key player for Ulster since joining the club from Connacht in 2017. However, he won the last of his 11 Ireland caps in the 2020 Six Nations.

"They've both been brilliant players," said Murphy in a news conference ahead of Ulster's Investec Champions Cup trip to Toulouse on Sunday (15:15 GMT).

"At this time of year, with players off contract, there's always going to be conversations about those things.

"We don't want to see them go. It's like anything, if people decide to move on, well the group here will move on without them.

"We're trying to build something here going forward over the next number of years, hopefully the guys might want to be a part of that."

Both Cooney and Stockdale are injured and will play no part in Ulster's game at Champions Cup holders Toulouse.

Listen to Toulouse v Ulster on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio Ulster from 15:00 GMT on Sunday