McCloskey absence short-term & Bell to miss Benetton game

Ulster head coach Richie Murphy has revealed that Stuart McCloskey should be back playing within a few weeks after suffering a recurrence of a groin injury in Ireland's recent win over Australia.

The centre was forced to come off the pitch during the first half of the Aviva Stadium encounter on 15 November, having initially sustained the problem in the defeat by the All Blacks which kicked off Ireland's series of autumn internationals two weeks previously.

McCloskey will be missing as Ulster return to action against Benetton in the United Rugby Championship on Friday but Murphy has reassured supporters of the Irish province that he will not be absent for long.

"He's not too bad. He obviously picked up a groin injury with Ireland and reaggravated it but the signs are quite positive," Murphy told BBC Sport NI.

"I think he'll be back on his feet by the end of the week and he'll be back training and then it'll take a few weeks to make sure he's ready to go back into a full match mode.

"He's just going through that return to play. When you re-injure something it does take that little bit longer to get back but he's moving in the right direction."

Meanwhile newly-arrived Australia prop Angus Bell has joined up with his new team-mates after a hectic period of international fixtures but will not feature against Ulster's Italian opponents in Belfast this weekend.

The 25-year-old Wallaby has agreed a short-term deal until the end of the season.

"He arrived on Monday but you have to remember what he's come out of - he played in and around 15 internationals over 22 weeks in nine different countries," explained the Ulster head coach.

"He's found his home for the next few months and is madly enthusiastic, can't wait to get going. You know by him that he's excited and wants to add to the environment.

"You know by the try he scored last week against the French gives you an idea of what type of player we are signing."

Having not played since going down 49-31 to the Lions in South Africa on 25 October, Murphy's charges will aim to get back to winning ways in front of their home fans at the Affidea Stadium on Friday after their five-week hiatus.

Ulster sit fifth in the URC table with three wins from their opening four fixtures.

"No matter what games you play in the URC, they are really difficult games. The days of Italian teams being soft touches is well gone," affirmed Murphy.

"The Benetton squad is very dense, good players and they have a huge budget.

"What they're going to send over I'm not quite sure. I think they had 12 players playing for Italy last weekend, and they had a team playing Zebre as well, so they've had two teams preparing.

"We just have to look after ourselves. We've had a really good bloc. The last three weeks have been excellent and the lads have worked really hard in training so we're looking forward to getting back at it [on] Friday night."

After a long period of inaction, Ulster now enter a series of 10 matches which will take in six URC games and participation in the Challenge Cup on the European stage.

The province will host Racing 92 and Stade Francais in European rugby's second tier, and travel to take on Cardiff and the Cheetahs.

"You look at the two French teams we're going to play at home. They're in the top seven in France so they're top class teams.

"But I think it's really important we look at this 10-game bloc and think what's most important for us. I think it's really important that we work our way up the URC and get into the top tier of Europe.

"That's one of our big targets. Those Challenge Cup games are really important but there will be times across this bloc when we have to rotate our squad and rely on some of the young guys coming through. It's going to be exciting to see that."