Ulster

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Ulster full-back Jacob Stockdale has been ruled out of Sunday's Challenge Cup pool game against the Cheetahs (15:15 GMT) with a rib injury.

The Ireland back suffered the injury in last week's United Rugby Championship win over Munster and was forced off early in the second half.

The 29-year-old joins Juarno Augustus, Michael Lowry, Rory McGuire (all ankle), Charlie Irvine (calf), Ethan McIlroy (ribs), James McNabney (knee), Stewart Moore (hand) on Ulster's injury list.

In more positive news, Ben Moxham is available for selection for Sunday's game in Amsterdam after recovering from a serious knee injury.

The 24-year-old winger has not played since tearing an anterior cruciate ligament during Ulster's loss to Leinster in November 2024.

Speaking to BBC Sport NI, Ulster defence coach Willie Faloon indicated that back-row Augustus may not be absent for as long as first thought after he was initially diagnosed with "a significant ankle ligament injury".

"He saw a specialist last Friday and hopefully we'll see in the next couple of weeks when he'll be back. We're hoping it will be a little more positive," said Faloon.

Ulster opened their Challenge Cup campaign with a resounding 61-7 win over Racing 92 but fell to a 29-26 loss to Cardiff.

Since then, Richie Murphy's side lost to Leinster before beating Connacht and Munster in the festive inter-provincial derbies in the United Rugby Championship.

Faloon added that this week's meeting with the Cheetahs offers something of a change of venue and opposition for the Irish province.

"Looking forward to it, looking forward to putting in a performance there, but it's different, travelling to Amsterdam, playing against a team that we don't face regularly, it's an exciting challenge.

"We want to go as well in the Challenge Cup as we can so it's really important that we win this game and put ourselves in a good position."

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Munster head coach Clayton McMillan felt his side were "poor" in their United Rugby Championship loss against Ulster on Friday night but said his side will "bounce back" from a poor run.

After making a strong start to the campaign, Munster have struggled over recent weeks and have now lost four of their past six including back-to-back Irish derbies against Leinster and Ulster.

Against the latter at Affidea Stadium, Richie Murphy's side had only a narrow 6-3 lead at half-time before tries from Tom Stewart, Jake Flannery and Bryn Ward after the restart secured a comfortable 28-3 win for the hosts.

The result put an end to Munster's three-game winning run against Ulster and saw the northern province jump above their Irish rivals in the table.

"We trained well during the week and expected a much better performance across the board," McMillan told BBC Sport NI.

"We didn't get it, and we weren't allowed to get it through a quality, physical Ulster side, so full credit to them.

"They [Ulster] won the scraps on the ground and were able to build a little bit of momentum off that, the breakdown was poor, we lost races and we carried high. We had a couple of good moments but, overall, were poor again."

The defeat dropped Munster to sixth in the URC table before they turn their attention to the Champions Cup and Sunday's game against Top 14 side Toulon (13:00 GMT).

McMillan added he needs to "find out what will bring a turn of form" before their trip to the Stade Mayol.

"It is just our execution, which is becoming a recurring theme so, first and foremost, the coaches will look at ourselves before we look at the players," said the head coach in his first season at Thomond Park.

"We need to reflect again and start thinking about what will bring a turn of form. We are hanging in there, but we haven't been that compelling with anything that we have done.

"We have a good group and we will bounce back, but you would like to have a bit more consistency and not have to go through performances like that to get a response."

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Ulster head coach Richie Murphy says there is a "great buzz" around the northern province this season.

Friday night's 28-3 interpro triumph over Munster lifted the side into second place in the United Rugby Championship and they have won six of eight games played in the league this season.

Having finished 14th last season, above only Zebre and Dragons in the table, it has been a dramatic turnaround at the Affidea Stadium so far in 2025-26.

"There's a great buzz down in the changing room," said the head coach in his second full season in the job.

"There's confidence growing. There's a real belief. There's a real hunger. The atmosphere on a daily basis is great.

"The lads are turning up and they're hungry for work."

Murphy has been impressed by the contributions of 21-year-old pair Bryn Ward and Joe Hopes in recent weeks and feels it was important to increase the depth of his panel this season after a host of experienced departures in recent summers.

"There's a few others that we want to try and get in over these next couple of weeks to try and build out our squad because that's one of the things that is going to be really important come the back end of the tournament.

"The challenge in training is a lot better now because, one, we've a healthier squad than we did last year and those young guys are learning from the experience.

"Our older guys, the Iain Hendersons, the Rob Herrings, the Jacob Stockdales, Nick Timoneys, they're really driving the place forward.

"The young lads are really hungry as well, so it's great."

In their latest victory, Ulster had led only 6-3 at half-time in snowy conditions but made their dominance count in the second half with three tries and 22 unanswered points to ensure they would leapfrog Munster in the table despite not picking up the four-try bonus point in the final minutes.

"Just early on in the game, we couldn't quite break them down and we didn't look after the ball quite well enough, but we put them under a hell of a lot of pressure and I suppose that told in the second half," Murphy added.

"I still think we tried and we tried hard to play [in the first half].

"We were the team that were trying to move the ball to space and get our big ball carrying wingers into the game and I thought we'd done that really well, just probably a little bit disappointed that we couldn't get that final try."

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Ulster scrum-half Nathan Doak has signed a new contract that runs until the summer of 2028.

Doak, 24, has established himself as a key player for Ulster after making his debut as a teenager in 2021.

He has played a key role in Ulster's impressive season under head coach Richie Murphy, and he has the most successful conversions in the United Rugby Championship, with 19, and is second for most kicking metres made.

Doak, whose father Neil also played for Ulster as a scrum-half, was called up to the Ireland squad for the summer tour and has been involved in two Ireland 'A' matches.

He was also part of the Emerging Ireland squad which toured South Africa in 2022.

Doak said that playing for Ulster "means everything" and discussions with Ulster's new general manager Rory Best played a key role in him committing his future to the province.

"I understand the responsibility and significance of wearing this shirt, it means everything to me," Doak said.

"From my discussions with Rory, he made it clear to me the direction in which he sees Ulster going and that is something I wanted to be a part of and believe we can reach.

"I want to help the team keep moving forward while also improving my own game, and I feel Ulster is the best place for me to do that."

Former Ireland and Ulster captain Best said he felt Doak's "best years are ahead of him" and he has the potential to play for Ireland.

"It's clear that Nathan's performances this season have been rightly praised, and we are aware of interest from other top clubs in signing him.

"Nathan has a lot of experience for someone who has just turned 24 years of age, and I know that Richie and the coaching staff have been impressed by his maturity and development."

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Ulster back row Juarno Augustus will be sidelined "for a number of weeks" because of the ankle ligament injury he sustained in the United Rugby Championship win over Connacht in Galway.

Augustus left the field midway through the second half of his team's 29-24 success at Dexcom Stadium and Ulster say the damage is "significant".

The former Northampton Saints number eight has initially been ruled out of Friday's URC match with Munster in Belfast.

"He's going to see someone about it on Friday," head coach Richie Murphy told BBC Sport NI.

"We're not sure exactly on the timeline, but yeah we won't be seeing him over the next couple of weeks. It gives him an opportunity then to retrain himself and get himself nice and fit and come back fighting bigger and stronger hopefully."

Meanwhile Ethan McIlroy's injury woe has continued as he faces a further spell out of action after picking up a rib injury in Ballynahinch's Senior Cup Final victory over Instonians.

Eric O'Sullivan (hamstring), Matthew Dalton (knee), Iain Henderson (back) and Rob Herring (knee) have all resumed team training and their availability for selection will be assessed through training this week.

"It's a big boost for the squad," Murphy added when asked about the return of experienced Ireland internationals Herring and Henderson.

"Their experience and work in the early part of the season was really valuable for us. I think if you look at the likes of Harry Sheridan, Charlie Irvine and even Izzy [Cormac Izuchukwu], some of these younger guys, having a guy like Hendy in there is really valuable for them."

Ulster sit fifth in the URC table, three points below second-placed Munster, so have the opportunity to leapfrog their Irish interprovincial rivals in the table with a win at Affidea Stadium.

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Ulster forward Cormac Izuchukwu says he is not getting ahead of himself with regards to potential Six Nations selection after making his first start in nearly three months.

Izuchukwu impressed on his return to the Ulster line-up for the first time since 11 October in Saturday's United Rugby Championship win over Connacht in Galway, winning the player of the match award.

The 25-year-old has started just three games in a season interrupted by injury and illness and he says he cannot afford to focus too much on Ireland selection having only just returned for his province.

"I've missed so many camps with injuries that I've learned that you can get down on yourself if you're planning two months out to go to a camp and then you get injured, it can be quite a tough thing to live with," said the Offaly-born lock, who has three Ireland caps.

"If I just focus on staying fit, playing each week and then if it comes it comes, I can enjoy it then, but I'm not trying to put it up on a pedestal where if it doesn't go my way, it'll be a massive loss for me."

Saturday's 29-24 victory over Connacht was Ulster's fifth in seven URC games this season.

"If these games are lost, it amps up the pressure in the backend of the season," he added.

"We had that last year. We were kind of struggling coming into the backend of the season and then the Edinburgh game [the final game last season], it kind of fell apart.

"That's the lesson we've learned - can we win these games to make it easier to play in the later part of the season."

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Ulster head coach Richie Murphy says he was happy that his side "ground out" a 29-24 victory over Connacht in their United Rugby Championship interprovincial in Galway on Saturday but added that things got "a little too close for comfort" as a late surge saw the westerners move to within two points.

Ulster had to come from behind to claim a fifth bonus-point win of their URC campaign, scoring two tries in each half.

Zac Ward scored twice for the northern province, with a Werner Kok touchdown and penalty try also contributing to the win.

Connacht, who had led 10-0 in the first-half, scored late tries through Sean Jansen and Matthew Devine to cut the deficit to a couple of points, but Jack Murphy's late penalty made the game safe.

"It was a little disappointing [conceding two late tries] but you're always aware that you are in Connacht and Connacht are never going to give up without a fight," reflected Murphy.

"A lot of credit has to go to them for how they finished the game and at the end we're hanging on there.

"We'll look at how we get better in those final 20 minutes and really we just have to keep doing the things we were doing earlier in the half. We just kind of went into our shell a little bit. It's really important we keep going after the game."

The Ulster coach thought his side was deserving of their victory after some enterprising play.

"It was a cagey first 10 minutes or so, then Connacht got their try, but I thought we played some really good rugby in the second period of that first half when we started moving the ball and bringing some of our big outside backs into the game and they're a handful for any team.

"We started to move the ball into space and we were much more effective with ball in hand.

"We brought on two international standard props [Angus Bell and Tom O'Toole] at half-time. That's what we were thinking about, getting them involved early, try to sort out the scrum a little bit and also give us a little bit of carry power.

"Both of them were pretty effective and did quite well for us in that second half."

Back row Juarno Augustus was forced off the pitch through injury in the second half, with "an ankle sprain", with Murphy revealing that the initial impression post-match was that it was "not as serious as it first looked".

Ulster remain fifth in the URC table and host Munster in Belfast next week.

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Ulster centre Stuart McCloskey believes the side have "still got loads to work on" despite a largely strong start to their season.

The northern province go into Saturday's United Rugby Championship (URC) game against Connacht at Dexcom Stadium on Saturday (17:30 GMT) fifth in the table on 22 points having played a game fewer than those above them.

Even after surrendering a lead to Leinster last weekend, no side in the league has scored more than Ulster's 29 tries during the 2025-26 campaign.

"I think we probably know from the weekend where we are, I think we're close enough," said the Irish international.

"To give Leinster a good run on the weekend, we probably should have come on top if we'd done a few things differently in the second half.

"So, we know where we are. I think our attack has been brilliant, our defence has moved in the right direction."

It is all a marked improvement from last season when Ulster finished outside of the URC play-offs, as the fourth of the Irish provinces and failed to qualify for top-tier European competition for the first time in their history.

"Listen, it wasn't great last year," said McCloskey.

"It's nice to come in here saying we've scored the most tries in the league and we've still got loads to work on.

"I think there's so much growth in the team and we look back after most games and go, how much better we could have been?"

The Leinster loss last time out, in a game Ulster led by 10 points at half-time, came after losing a 14-point advantage during the final quarter against Cardiff in the Challenge Cup.

Heading to Galway off the back of their first back-to-back losses, McCloskey believes Ulster have to continue what they have done well to this point in the season rather than change approach for an interprovincial derby.

"I think we just want to go out and make sure we play the game we've been playing for the first eight games of the season this week and not try to do anything different just because it's Connacht."

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Cormac Izuchuku is included in the Ulster starting line-up for the first time since October as the Irish province make six changes to the starting XV which took to the field for the 24-20 defeat by Leinster for Saturday's interprovincial against Connacht in Galway (17:30 GMT).

The second row has overcome injury and illness and this week committed his future to Ulster by agreeing a two-year contract extension.

Izuchukwu replaces Charlie Irvine in the second row for the Dexcom Stadium encounter and will partner Harry Sheridan, who will make his 50th appearance for the province.

Sam Crean and Scott Wilson come in at loose-head and tight-head prop respectively, with Tom Stewart retaining his position at hooker.

In the half-backs, scrum-half Conor McKee makes his first interprovincial derby start alongside fly-half Jack Murphy.

The two changes in the back division see Zac Ward start on the left wing and James Hume return to join Stuart McCloskey in the midfield after he missed out last week through illness.

In-form Werner Kok starts on the right wing after scoring two tries against Leinster, as Jacob Stockdale is retained at full-back.

David McCann, Nick Timoney and Juarno Augustus make up the back row.

The back-line replacements are Nathan Doak, Jake Flannery and Jude Postlethwaite, while the forward options on the bench are John Andrew, Angus Bell, Tom O'Toole, Joe Hopes and Bryn Ward.

Ulster go into the Christmas period in fifth position in the table after winning four and losing two of their URC matches to date.

Richie Murphy's side will complete a trio of Irish interprovincial derbies when they host Munster in Belfast on 2 January.

Connacht head coach Stuart Lancaster will give academy wing Daniel Ryan his senior debut as the western province look to bounce back from a dispiriting defeat by Dragons last time out.

Prop Denis Buckley will become Connacht's second most capped player when he represents the side for the 270th time, behind only John Muldoon's 327 outings for the side.

Lock David O'Connor will start in the second row against his former side, while scrum-half Ben Murphy, will feature against an Ulster side coached by his father Richie and featuring his brother Jack.

Connacht: Gilbert; Ryan, Forde, Aki, Treacy; Carty, B Murphy; Buckley, Heffernan, Bealham; Joyce, O'Connor; J Murphy, Prendergast, Jansen.

Replacements:Tierney-Martin, Duggan, Barrett, Murray, O'Brien, Devine, Ioane, Gavin.

Ulster: Stockdale; Kok, Hume, McCloskey, Z Ward; Crean, Stewart, Wilson; Sheridan, Izuchukwu; McCann, Timoney, Augustus.

Replacements: Andrew, Bell, O'Toole, Hopes, B Ward, Doak, Flannery, Postlethwaite.

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Ulster lock Cormac Izuchukwu says "pride in the province" is what helps make Irish derbies special as the side prepare to take on Connacht this weekend.

Richie Murphy's side travel to the Dexcom Stadium on Saturday (17:30 GMT) for what is their second of three games in a row against Irish rivals in the United Rugby Championship (URC).

The northern province are looking to bounce back following a narrow 24-20 loss against Leinster last time.

The home side, meanwhile, come into the match off the back of a loss comprehensive reverse against Dragons.

"Connacht away, Leinster away and Munster at home, they are special," Izuchukwu told BBC Sport NI.

"There is something about them, they are class to play in.

"For me it is having pride in the province, going down there and showing what we are about."

Izuchukwu, who has not played since early October because of a recurring foot injury followed by an illness last week, has just signed a new two-year contract to keep him at Ulster until the summer of 2028.

The 25-year-old second row added that he has "grown as a person and a player" since joining the Ulster academy in 2020.

"It has been on my mind for a while now, so really happy to get it done and to get back to playing rugby," Izuchukwu continued.

"I came here back in 2020, I didn't have many options, and they gave me a chance. I came here, have made friends and have grown as a person and a player.

"I have made great memories here and, for me, with how the club is growing I am so happy to be here."

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Ulster lock Cormac Izuchukwu has signed a two-year contract extension with the province until the summer of 2028.

The 25-year-old made his Ulster debut in 2021 and has racked up 44 appearances for the province.

The versatile forward has also won three caps for Ireland and said he was "delighted" to commit his future to Richie Murphy's side.

"We are delighted as we wanted to keep our best players at Ulster," Murphy told BBC Sport NI.

"He [Izuchukwu] has become an important member of the squad over the last couple of seasons.

"He is and around that Irish set up at the moment and one of our goas is to push him hard enough to become a regular member of that Irish team and I know that is something he wants to do."

Ulster general manager Rory Best said tying Izuchukwu down to a new deal was a "really important renewal".

"Cormac has shown so much of his unique potential over the past season or two, with his profile of physicality and power helping to make him one of the most exciting forwards in Irish rugby," he added when speaking to Ulster's website.

"He has earned national team recognition due to his performances, and we believe he has a very exciting future in front of him for both Ulster and Ireland."

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Cormac Izuchukwu and James Hume are set to feature in Ulster's United Rugby Championship game against Connacht at Dexcom Stadium on Saturday (17:30 GMT).

The URC fixture is the second of three games in a row against Irish provinces for Ulster, with Richie Murphy's side coming into the game after back-to-back defeats against Cardiff and Leinster.

Ireland lock Izuchukwu has not played since early October and returns to the squad alongside Hume, who missed the interprovincial derby defeat at Aviva Stadium after scoring a try in the Challenge Cup match against Cardiff.

Nathan Doak is a doubt because of a calf problem with Rob Baloucoune (shoulder) and Stewart Moore (wrist) also injury concerns.

Charlie Irvine, who picked up a calf injury against defending URC champions Leinster, has been ruled out.

However, despite missing multiple players, Ulster head coach Richie Murphy said that his side's injury situation is "reasonably good."

"Injuries are reasonably good from the weekend," Murphy told BBC Sport NI.

"We have had a couple of long-term ones which haven't changed but, from the game at the weekend, we have come out pretty well."

Connacht will be looking to get back to winning ways themselves after losing 48-28 to Dragons in their last match.

The home side have lost four of their opening six URC matches but won their previous home game.

"Connacht are in a tough place," Murphy continued.

"They are coming off a pretty poor defeat in their eyes so it will be a very difficult place to go this weekend."

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Ulster head coach Richie Murphy says there is no time for "wallowing" after losing 24-20 to Leinster in the United Rugby Championship.

Two scores from Werner Kok and a Tom Stewart try helped Ulster to a 17-7 half-time lead at the Aviva Stadium.

However, Leinster, aided by a strong bench, rallied as Joshua Kenny and Ireland internationals James Lowe and Dan Sheehan crossed to give the hosts a comeback win.

"It was a difficult turnaround in the second half, we never really got our game going," Murphy told Premier Sports.

"We probably went away from what we were doing in the first half and if you give a team like Leinster a little bit of field position, they can play on top of you and it's very hard to try and recover."

It is a second defeat in a row for Ulster, who have had a superb start to the season.

A much-changed side let slip a 14-point lead to lose to Cardiff in the Challenge Cup, and Leinster inflicted a second league defeat of the season on Murphy's young side.

However, they still remain fourth in the table, one place ahead of Leinster, and take on Connacht in Galway after Christmas.

"We can't spend too much time wallowing over this. We have to learn from it and move on," Murphy added.

"We did talk about that last week and now it's a second defeat on the bounce. That's something we want to try and change pretty quickly.

"We'll park this, prepare for Connacht and move on."