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Piutau hasn't played since the start of February. David Fitzgerald

Piutau set to hand struggling Ulster a boost ahead of crunch Glasgow clash

The New Zealander has recovered from a dislocated rib cartilage.

CHARLES PIUTAU IS set to hand Ulster a major, and timely, injury boost ahead of the province’s must-win Guinness Pro14 clash with Glasgow Warriors at Kingspan Stadium on Friday.

The 26-year-old New Zealander has been sidelined for the last three weeks with a dislocated rib cartilage but has returned to full fitness and is available for selection.

Piutau sustained the injury during the victory over Southern Kings in Belfast at the start of February and has missed the last two games — defeats to Edinburgh and Scarlet — as Ulster’s wretched season has gone from bad to worse.

The northern province, who parted company with director of rugby Les Kiss last month, have lost four of their last six games both in the Pro14 and Europe, and are five points behind third-place Edinburgh in Conference B.

While Piutau returns for the visit of Glasgow to Belfast [KO 7.35pm, BBC NI], Ulster will be without Sean Reidy and Craig Gilroy while Jean Deysel is rated as 50/50 after picking up a shoulder knock against Scarlets last weekend.

With Dave Rennie’s Warriors 12 points clear at the top of Conference B, Friday night will be another stern test for Ulster, with skills coach Niall Malone admitting it’s been a mix of the good and bad recently.

“We have had plenty of good stuff,” Malone said. “We have had a lot of bad stuff as well, so we have had a bit of a mix. Like, it’s different problems, it is not always the same thing so we are trying to solve things all the time.

“At the minute, the usual excuses are valid — that our injuries are crippling us and a lot of guys who are off the pitch aren’t available to us. That’s what we have to deal with and we didn’t deal with it very well against Scarlets in the second half.”

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