The Ulster Rugby Medical Performance team has issued a squad update ahead of Friday’s United Rugby Championship fixture against Benetton at Kingspan Stadium.

The side has no new injury concerns arising out of Saturday’s game against Zebre, a 36-3 win in Parma.

Stuart McCloskey (hamstring) and Jordi Murphy sustained recent injuries in training and are currently unfit for selection.

Jacob Stockdale (ankle) and Rob Lyttle (back) also sustained recent training ground injuries and will have their fitness for selection monitored through the coming week.

Cormac Izuchukwu and Luke Marshall remain out with knee injuries while winger Robert Baloucoune recovers from a groin injury.

Captain Iain Henderson is sidelined with a thumb injury while former Leinster prop Jack McGrath is working his way to full fitness after a hip injury.

Kieran Treadwell is still sidelined with the shoulder injury he picked up during pre-season and is currently working his way back into contention.

Nathan Doak earned his first start for the province against Zebre after coming on in place of Cooney against Glasgow Warriors.

The Ireland international had to leave the field after 30 minutes and has recently had an MRI scan to determine the severity of his injury.

Doak scored one of Ulster’s conversions in the 33-point win over Zebre at the Stade Sergio Lanfranchi.

Dan McFarland’s side scored six tries to get their second win of the season and continue their strong start to the inaugural United Rugby Championship season.

Ethan McIlroy and Nick Timoney both scored braces on Saturday as the visitors blew away their hosts in a clear showcase of the gulf in class between the sides.

Will Addison also got on the scoresheet for the side as well as James Hume but Ulster could only manage to convert half of their kicking opportunities following the tries.

McFarland’s team will hope to go three-from-three against Benetton to maintain their impressive start.

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It will be the 29-year-old’s first time wearing the armband for the famous side in his second tour.

The lock forward has been Ulster captain since the start of the 2019-20 season, taking on the role after Rory Best.

He has also worn the armband at international level for Ireland – captaining the side when they lost 15-13 to France at the Aviva Stadium in this year’s Six Nations Championship.

Henderson will join an elite group of Irish captains of the Lions, with 12 Irish players achieving the honour beforehand (including Conor Murray).

Paul O’Connell and Brian O’Driscoll are examples of the Irish players that have captained the famous side before.

Henderson is only the second Irish player to captain the Lions that was not Tour Captain.

Peter O’Mahony started the first test against New Zealand in 2017 ahead of Tour Captain Sam Warburton and was given the armband in his absence.

Henderson’s achievement will come 101 years after the first-ever Irish Lions captain led the side out against South Africa.

Tommy Smyth is the beginning of an illustrious list that includes those mentioned above as well as full-back Tom Kiernan and lock Willie John McBride, who toured with the Lions five times and is currently the most-capped player for the side.

Iain Henderson will etch his name onto that list on Wednesday evening when he leads the side out against the Sharks in Johannesburg.

The lock will captain a side that includes Connacht and Ireland centre Bundee Aki at 12.

Four Irish players are expected to come off the bench in the midweek game – Tadhg Furlong, Tadhg Beirne, Jack Conan and Conor Murray.

Click here to see the Lions’ matchday 23 to face the Sharks.

The game will be available to watch on Sky Sports.

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Henderson who is 28 years old, is expected to be out for a period of 8-10 weeks. Therefore, this would mean he would not be returning until around the middle or end of October. This means he will likely miss the remainder of Ulster’s season also. Ulster return to action on August 23rd, where they will play Andy Friend’s Connacht. This game will take place at the Aviva Stadium. Ulster will also contest a Champions Cup quarter-final in the coming weeks against Toulouse.

Ulster Rugby also issued a squad update on their website.  They confirmed that Angus Curtis is still rehabilitating from a multi-knee ligament injury. Andrew Warwick will have to undergo a hip operation next week. Will Addison is also nursing a back injury. Sam Carter and Matt Fades are now back in training following shoulder surgeries as are Greg Jones and Matthew Rea who both had ankle surgeries. Ulster Rugby say that the quartet will be fit for selection on August 23rd.

In terms of the international game, Ireland will play the remaining of their 2020 Six Nations in October. The first game is against Italy on October 24th, while they will face France a week later in Paris. Henderson will likely have to plan towards the one off Eight Nation tournament which will be run from November. Ireland will face Wales, Fiji and England. As we previously stated these games will be run over a period of 4 weekends from November 14th until December 5th.

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