{"id":651443,"date":"2026-05-05T16:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T16:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/651443\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T16:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T16:24:09","slug":"ulster-v-montpellier-jacob-stockdale-and-stuart-mccloskey-emerge-as-injury-doubts-for-challenge-cup-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/651443\/","title":{"rendered":"Ulster v Montpellier: Jacob Stockdale and Stuart McCloskey emerge as injury doubts for Challenge Cup final"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Ireland internationals Jacob Stockdale and Stuart McCloskey have emerged as injury doubts for Ulster&#8217;s European Challenge Cup final against Montpellier later this month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Outside back Stockdale must visit a maxillo-facial surgeon for a facial fracture sustained in a collision with Immanuel Fey-Waboso in Ulster&#8217;s semi-final win over Exeter Chiefs last weekend. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">In-form centre McCloskey will have an MRI scan to determine the extent of the hamstring problem he picked up in the Chiefs game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Back row David McCann also requires an MRI scan after sustaining a knee injury in the 29-12 win over the Prem side.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Ulster face Montpellier in Bilbao on 22 May as the Irish province chase their first piece of silverware in 20 years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">In more positive news, Ulster boss Richie Murphy&#8217;s front-row options have been boosted with props Angus Bell and Scott Wilson and hooker Rob Herring returning to training this week before Friday&#8217;s United Rugby Championship game against the table-topping Stormers at Affidea Stadium (19:45 BST). <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Ulster sit eighth in the URC table following back-to-back defeats by inter-provincial rivals Leinster and Munster.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Murphy&#8217;s side will secure Champions Cup rugby for next season with a top-eight URC finish or by winning the Challenge Cup. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland internationals Jacob Stockdale and Stuart McCloskey have emerged as injury doubts for Ulster&#8217;s European Challenge Cup final&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":651444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-651443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}