Ulster coach Richie Murphy admits "nobody probably gives us a chance" as he prepares his side for Saturday night's Champions Cup showdown with Leicester Tigers. The Irish province sit rock bottom of their pool heading into their third European fixture this season.

So far they have crashed to heavy defeats to Toulouse and Bordeaux, shipping 101 points across the two games.

Murphy is also nursing news of Tom O'Toole's hefty six-game suspension, while Stuart McCloskey (hamstring), Robert Baloucoune (calf), James Hume (knee), Tom Stewart (hamstring), Michael Lowry (thigh) and Jacob Stockdale (hamstring) all remain out.

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Captain Iain Henderson returns for Ulster alongside full-back Ethan McIlroy, but Murphy accepts his side face a tall order at Welford Road.

He told RTE: "We're going there and nobody probably gives us a chance. If we want to stay in the competition we need to win our last two games.

"Leicester is a very difficult place to go. They have a massive pack and set piece, and their big back three are all very talented in the air.

"There is a massive test coming in regards to that but we are going there with confidence. We want to try and put our game out in front of them and see where we get to."

Meanwhile, back row James McNabney believes Ulster are starting to move in the right direction after beating Connacht last time out. That ended a five-game losing streak for the province.

He also remains confident Ulster can put a dent in Leicester's European aspirations on Saturday evening.

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He told the BBC: "Every team you face are just 15 players and they are beatable so go out with confidence. I'll just take it in my stride and hopefully play well.

"We know they're going to be a big physical side and we know what they're going to bring but you can only look at them so much because you need to focus on yourself and focus on the team.

"The win over Connacht was only one win. We need to back it up this week with a good performance."

Team news

Leicester Tigers: Steward; Bassett; Perese, Kata; Hassell-Collins; Pollard, Van Poortvliet; Smith, Montoya (capt), Heyes; Henderson, Holloway; Carnduff, Reffell, Cracknell.

Replacements: Clare, Whitcombe, Cole, Wells, Ilione, Youngs, Shillcock, Woodward.

Ulster: McIlroy; Kok; Carson, Postlewaite; Ward; Morgan, Doak; Warwick, Andrew, Wilson; Henderson (capt), Izuchukwu; McNabney, Timoney, McCann.

Replacements: McCormick, O'Sullivan, Barrett, Treadwell, Sheridan, Cooney, Murphy, Telfer.

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