Iain Henderson a major doubt for Six Nations, says Ulster chief Les Kiss

Ulster director of rugby fears Ireland star Iain Henderson could miss the Six Nations after suffering a hamstring injury against Edinburgh.

Henderson tore his hamstring against the Scottish side and Kiss is fearing the worst.

“Iain’s type of injury has historically been up to six months (out). At this stage it doesn’t look good in terms of the Six Nations, he added.”

Kiss is also worried at what Friday night’s Champions Cup rivals Stade Toulouse are going to bring to the Kingspan Stadium.

Toulouse, who have topped the European elite four times, but have not held the trophy aloft for six years, can vary their style of play as they have a multitude of internationally-laden players.

On the other hand, Ulster are still smarting from the injury crisis which went off the radar after last week’s stubborn victory over Edinburgh when Peter Nelson (foot), Dan Tuohy (leg) and Henderson joined the list of players out until the new year and possibly season-ending while Darren Cave (shoulder) could return before the Christmas break.

But at the present, Kiss is more anxious about just who Toulouse will travel with and who posses the greatest threat. “Could I say 23 players? One of the worries is that we do not know what sort of a team they are going to put out. To tell you the truth, when you look at players they have for the back row they have a number of options around the edges.

“Their back three has also options, but will they back themselves from everywhere which they do a lot in their games, but when you look at them in other games, they will hang on to the ball. They are varying their game into a very adaptive beast at the moment and they can play either way. So their unpredictability is their biggest danger.

“So we will need to see their selection to see what style of game they want to play on Friday. Will they start with Toby Flood and get him to manage the game and then expose Luke McAllister later? So they provide a real danger everywhere,” explained Kiss, who knows full well it is a must-win game for both teams after both lost to Pool 1 leaders Saracens.

“They are in a position of wealth. For us we are a game down but still there’s probably not a true line through the group, but you would be stupid not to think that Saracens don’t have an edge at the moment. There’s a lot on the line for Toulouse in keeping in touch while for us making sure we are on the money to keep in touch as well with a win at home to give us the opportunity of going forward. Saracens play Oyonnax and all the good money will be on them to jump away a little bit, but us and Toulouse it’s a really important game,” said Kiss.

As Ulster’s injuries pile up, Kiss acknowledges that they are inevitable in such a physical sport.

“It worries me if players get injured, but that is the nature of the beast. Iain Henderson’s injury happened with stress through the body, and it simply gave way.

“What I do like at Ulster is that our approach in managing the load of the player with the GPS data and hopefully we can dodge injuries that way. Last weekend I would say was just a little bit of bad luck.”