Herring and Burns ruled out for Ulster

Ulster will be without both Rob Herring and Billy Burns for Friday night's BKT United Rugby Championship meeting with Connacht at the Sportsground (live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player).

Herring picked up a rib injury shortly after coming on in the second half of Saturday's 36-29 defeat to La Rochelle in the Champions Cup, while Burns suffered a concussion in the opening quarter and will follow the return to play protocols, with the province saying neither player will feature in Friday night's Interpro.

Angus Curtis has also been added to the province's growing injury list after picking up a knee injury in action for Ulster A in their friendly against Ealing Trailfinders at the weekend.

It has been a costly few weeks on the injury front for Dan McFarland's side, with James Hume and Tom O'Toole still sidelined, having suffered injuries in the Round 1 defeat to Sale, while Rob Baloucoune, Jacob Stockdale and Ian Madigan continue to be unavailable for selection.

Elsewhere the EPCR say have launched an investigation into the chain of events that led to the meeting of Ulster and La Rochelle being moved to the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.

Their fixture was moved from Kingspan Stadium to Dublin on Friday evening after a pitch inspection in Belfast, with the Aviva Stadium not confirmed as the official venue until just six hours before kick-off.

Given the short-notice of the move, the match was played behind closed doors, excluding an official delegation of traveling La Rochelle support.

"EPCR can confirm that an investigation is being conducted to ascertain the facts surrounding the relocation of last Saturday's Heineken Champions Cup, Round 2 fixture between Ulster Rugby and Stade Rochelais," a statement said.

"The investigation is proceeding