RUGBY News round-up: Ulster coach Mark McCall will delay naming his team to face Leinster until after Friday's disciplinary hearing in Glasgow, at which the fate of his first-choice locks, Justin Harrison and Matt McCullough, will be decided.
Both secondrows have been cited for punching during an ill-tempered clash against Saracens at Vicarage Road at the weekend. Saracens prop Kevin Yates will also face the hearing.
If the Ulster duo receive the minimum ban of one match, they will miss the St Stephen's Day Celtic League meeting with Leinster at Ravenhill, where Brian O'Driscoll is expected to play for the first time since dislocating his shoulder while on Lions duty against New Zealand last summer.
The Ulster squad, with the exception of Simon Best, Rory Best and Neil Best, are undertaking warm weather training in Lanzarote, and McCall has sought permission to delay naming his team until the hearing is over.
Harrison has added a gritty presence to the Ulster pack since his arrival at the beginning of the season, and although Ulster are going for a third successive win over fellow Irish teams this season, having already beaten Connacht at home and Munster away, they did lose their eight-match Celtic League winning run at Ravenhill last time out against Ospreys.
The Welsh side may also have to do without Welsh centre Gavin Henson following last weekend's European Cup match against Leicester.
Two citings were lodged by the ERC-appointed citing commissioner for the match, Bill Dunlop, and are against the Ospreys centre for alleged contravention of Law 10.4 (a) and 10.4 (c) against Leicester's Alejandro Moreno. The laws state that a player must not strike an opponent with the fist or arm, including the elbow, shoulder, head or knee(s) and that a player must not kick an opponent.
Henson was involved in an off- the-ball scuffle with Moreno in the first half of the match during which he appeared to kick the Italian international, who left the pitch with blood streaming from a broken nose.
Ian Evans is also before the jury for allegedly kicking Tigers' Harry Ellis on the knee, which left the English scrumhalf unable to continue the match. It is anticipated a lengthy suspension awaits him, but the focus will be on Henson, who may miss Wales' first Six Nations match against England on February 4th.
Henson could receive anything up to a three-month ban, which would keep him out of rugby until March 19th, the day after Wales' final Six Nations clash with France.
A long ban for Henson would mark the end of what has been a troubled six months, during which he was forced out of the Lions tour with concussion. He then picked up a series of injuries to his back and groin which kept him out of from Wales' November internationals.
Neither Harrison nor McCullough's citings appear as serious, but their absence would certainly hinder Ulster's hopes of reversing Leinster's 30-23 win at Donnybrook in October.
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