Returning Iain Henderson embracing challenge against United Rugby Championship holders Glasgow

The two-time British and Irish Lions tourist underwent an operation on his toe and missed the remainder of last season. He also sat out both of Ulster’s pre-season hit-outs, but a fresh and revitalised Henderson is now raring to go.

“I feel like the sessions we’ve been doing over the last number of weeks have been brilliant, Richie [Murphy, head coach] tries to push us to an intensity in training where we feel uncomfortable,” Henderson said. "We feel more tired than what we would in a game and that’s the way Richie likes to train. It’s hard, it’s fast and there are times when there is a fair bit of contact in it.

“Though you’ll never fully simulate a game, I feel like I’m in a pretty good spot to do that.

“Most of the lads coming off pre-season, we’ve been working hard and have got ourselves in the best shape possible to give this season a good run.”

The second row said he waited as long as he could before going under the knife.

“It happened in the fallow week I played Ospreys during the Six Nations, I ruptured ligaments in my toe then,” said Henderson. “I was playing with it and maybe it got progressively worse and then [for] that Clermont game we semi made a decision that if we could continue playing, we’d see how much worse it was getting and then it got the point when a repair was needed.

“It was a frustrating position where my foot was trapped, and Dave McCann happened to fall on it in an awkward position and my foot got forced out of position and I ruptured my ligament.

“It was the type of thing where the surgeon was saying that had anyone’s foot been in that position it would have happened, which was frustrating because I felt like I was on a good run and fit and healthy.”

Henderson is aware of the dangers the Glasgow pack will pose for Ulster as he makes his return.

“We’ve seen the way they played last season, a big abrasive pack, they’re brilliant at set-pieces and they’ll bring challenges there,” he said. "They work their way up the pitch with penalties, scrum penalties – they go looking for those with Zander (Fagerson) there too and ball-carrying back rows who are big threats. [Glasgow has] two big centres as well and those are things we’ll have to be on, our defence is going to have to be massive. We want to focus on ourselves and our style of attack and what Richie wants to bring in, and ensure that the stuff we’ve worked on in pre-season is right and then build on that for the following week.”

And David McCann has signed a one-year contract extension.

Ulster Rugby head of recruitment and rugby operations Bryn Cunningham said: “Dave has really come on as a player in the past twelve months.”