Henderson Suspended For Challenge Cup Final

Ulster captain Iain Henderson has been ruled out of next week’s EPCR Challenge Cup final after receiving a three-match suspension for his red card during their BKT United Rugby Championship draw with the DHL Stormers.

Henderson was already absent from the matchday 23 for tomorrow’s URC final round clash with Glasgow Warriors, and will now miss out on leading the province against Montpellier in Friday week’s Challenge Cup decider in Bilbao.

It is an untimely setback for Ulster as Stuart McCloskey’s recent hamstring injury is expected to sideline him for ‘a number of weeks’ – he was rated ‘touch and go’ for the final by attack coach Mark Sexton – and Jacob Stockdale, who underwent surgery on a facial fracture, is also a major doubt.

Henderson was yellow carded by referee Andrea Piardi early on against the Stormers for a croc roll on Deon Fourie, which was then upgraded to a 20-minute red card. Under Law 9.20 (d), a player may remove the tackler from the tackle area, but must not roll, pull, or twist an opponent.

The Ireland international appeared in front of an independent disciplinary committee, comprising of Roddy MacLeod (Chair), Alasdair Craig and Jonathan Rennie (all Scotland), and accepted that he had committed an act of foul play that warranted a red card.

The committee deemed that the act of foul play was reckless and merited a mid-range entry point of six weeks for sanctioning.

When applying mitigation, the committee considered Henderson’s previous good record (one suspension in a 15-year playing career), his remorse and immediate concern for Fourie plus his good conduct and full co-operation with the disciplinary process.

As such, the 34-year-old forward was afforded the full 50% mitigation (three weeks) which reduces the length of the suspension to three weeks. What matches he misses is dependent on whether Ulster progress to the URC play-offs.

If Richie Murphy’s men qualify for the league’s last-eight, their quarter-final fixture would complete Henderson’s three-week suspension. If they miss out on the play-offs, his ban would carry over to the start of Ireland’s Nations Championship campaign.

Fixtures Iain Henderson is unavailable for:

Ulster v Glasgow Warriors – Friday, May 15, BKT United Rugby Championship Round 18

Ulster v Montpellier – Friday, May 22, EPCR Challenge Cup Final

Ulster v TBC – Saturday, May 30, BKT United Rugby Championship Quarter-Final (This fixture will complete the three-week suspension if Ulster qualify for the URC quarter-finals)

Australia v Ireland – Saturday, July 4, Nations Championship (Should Ulster fail to progress to the URC’s last-eight, Ireland’s Nations Championship opener in Sydney would complete the three-week suspension)