McFarland: Ulster take no boost from Sexton absence

Ulster face a monumental task to knock out Champions Cup favourites Leinster on Saturday but Dan McFarland doesn't think their task is made any easier by the absence of Johnny Sexton.

The Ireland skipper has been ruled out of action with a groin injury and the club admitted this afternoon that he may have played his last Leinster game.

"Johnny Sexton will see a specialist on Tuesday and have a procedure on the groin injury picked up in Ireland's Guinness Six Nations game against England which will likely keep him sidelined for the remainder of the Leinster Rugby season," the province said of the 37-year-old, who is due to retire from the sport after the World Cup.

Ross Byrne, who is also Sexton's back-up with Ireland, will step into the out-half boots and McFarland is an admirer of the 28-year-old.

Asked if their job became any easier with the news that the Six Nations record point scorer and former world player of the year would miss out, McFarland said: "Any answer that I gave that was slightly close to 'yes’ would be demeaning to Ross Byrne and, to be fair, a number of other fellas in the squad who can play fly-half.

"We know well that Ross Byrne is quite capable of taking the rudder and winning games and winning games against us.

"In the Six Nations he was the back-up 10 for the best team in the world so he’s probably pretty good, in fact he is very good."

Ireland and Ulster lock Kieran Treadwell said he can see similarities in the two players and their game-management styles.

"He’s a similar enough player to Johnny," the 27-year-old told RTÉ Sport ahead of their last-16 clash at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday (5.30pm, live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player).

"Obviously, Johnny is Johnny. [Ross is] going to control the game and we know