Ulster skipper Iain Henderson says defeat against La Rochelle unthinkable after European humiliation

Just before the team leave the dressing room, all attention with turn to captain Iain Henderson to issue the rally call.

After the capitulation against Leinster at the RDS when Ulster blew at 19-point lead against 14 men, and last week’s humiliation at Sale when the province failed to score a single point in a European fixture for the first time, there will be an added importance to Henderson’s battle cry.

“Depending on how training goes, how meetings go, how the captain’s run goes – right up to the point of how the warm-up goes – [will affect] the tone of what’s happening in the pre-game chat,” Henderson said.

"It’ll definitely be one where we’ll be looking to perform immediately afterwards.

“Going into it, you get a feel for how things are going through the week. I don’t try to hide it, I rely massively on a lot of players in the squad, be it big Al [Alan O’Connor] or Nick [Timoney], or Billy [Burns] – they are big drivers in our team, all over the place.

“We have good feeling and good relationships between us to be able to manage the guys.”

Ulster are bottom of Pool B after their 39-0 mauling at the AJ Bell Stadium and the two-time British and Irish Lion admits it is a game Dan McFarland’s side simply can’t afford to lose.

“You lose two games in a pool like that, definitely haven’t got a bonus point in one of them, it puts you in a very, very difficult position,” said Henderson.

"I think fate is out of your hands, waiting to see what happens in other pools.

“It would be a poor season for us if we end up losing this one, in terms of European fixtures. I don’t really want to speculate on the result and see where we’re going from there, we’ll maybe have that discussion later on in the season.”

Henderson started his first game of the season at the RDS and played at blindside flanker instead of the engine room and stays in the backrow for the clash with the French side.

“It was something that was suggested to me, ‘How do you feel about playing here?’, and I said ‘Great, haven’t done it in a couple of years but I’ll see how I go’.

“Don’t get me wrong, playing with ‘Treaders’ (Kieran Treadwell) in the second row as well, he plays like a back row a lot of the time anyway.

“Sharing that load, I was happy enough with him. A lot of the line-outs, I was in the second row calling position so it was a bit of an amalgamation with both of us pitching in there.”

As well as Henderson, scrum-half John Cooney returns to the starting line up.

Ulster team to play Stade Rochelais (K/O 5 30pm): (15-9): Mike Lowry, Ethan McIlroy, Luke Marshall, Stuart McCloskey, Rob Lyttle, Billy Burns, John Cooney; (1-8): Rory Sutherland, Tom Stewart, Marty Moore, Alan O’Connor, Sam Carter, Iain Henderson (Captain), Nick Timoney, Duane Vermeulen.

Replacements: Rob Herring, Eric O’Sullivan, Gareth Milasinovich, Kieran Treadwell, David McCann, Nathan Doak, Stewart Moore, Ben Moxham.