'Really sad': Edinburgh Rugby rocked by serious injury to new signing just minutes into first start

Litterick arrived at Edinburgh this summer from Cardiff Blues and was making his first appearance for the club on Friday night. However, the 26-year-old lock damaged his Achilles in the opening stages of the match at Affidea Stadium and now could be sidelined for a considerable length of time.

Litterick was not the only injury sustained by Edinburgh, with head coach Sean Everitt revealing that centre Charlie McCaig was also hurt against the Irish side.

“Unfortunately Rhys Litterick has an Achilles injury,” said Everitt. “I think it’s a serious one. There was an injury to Charlie McCaig in his knee but we're not sure how severe that is at this stage.

On Litterick, Everitt continued: “It's really sad that a guy comes to the club and gets a serious injury in his first friendly of the season so I'm gutted for the guy and he'll be bitterly disappointed himself. He's probably shattered right now.”

On how he would compensate for Litterick’s injury, Everitt explained: “We've got Gus Williams that did well tonight in the set-piece and then we've also got D’arcy Rae as well as Paul Hill and then you know it's a great opportunity for a guy like Ollie Blyth-Lafferty to step up.”

Edinburgh trailed 19-0 at the break, but rallied well in the second half. “It was a typical first game of the season,” added Everitt. “You know the guys were a little bit rusty and it was great that we gave the youngsters an opportunity to play and maybe some of the fringe players that haven't had much opportunity.

“I thought the guys did really well against almost a full-strength Ulster team. I was pleased with the way the game went, maybe not always accurate to what we try to do. I thought our strike players from scrums were really good and put Ulster under pressure. I thought our breakdown on attack was really good and we created some good opportunities and we got good continuity going in our attack.

“I think there was a good flow and a good mix between forwards and backs on attack. So I'm happy with how we came through there. Obviously work-ons, our set-piece work but that'll come with personnel and more time.”

Edinburgh return to action next week when they have a double-header on Friday night against Ealing Trailfinders and Doncaster Knights at Hive Stadium.