Ulster Rugby v Scarlets

After working his way back from tearing a tendon in his elbow before the first game of the season, Kyle McCall is eager to get back to action with Ulster and make up for lost time. KYLE McCA

getting back with Ballynahinch and getting involved with the team sessions." Now, having played a couple of games in Division 1B of the All-Ireland League with 'Hinch to work his fitness back up, McCall is ready to jump back up to the senior level and start competing again with Andy Warwick and Eric O'Sullivan for the loosehead jersey. "I hadn't played for 'Hinch for about three years so it was great to get back there and get some minutes under my belt and contribute to them. It was great playing rugby again, getting that enjoyment back," says the former Wallace High prop. "It's great to see Eric O'Sullivan doing so well. Having that competition is something that we all need to strive to push each other in. There's a loosehead spot for the taking and one of us needs to take it, so it's about trying to get the best out of each other and fair play to Eric and Wazza (Andy Warwick) who have been doing brilliantly." This week McCall will again be on the bench when the Scarlets come calling to Kingspan Stadium in the second game of the Heineken Champions Cup doubleheader.

Having initially been named on the bench for that opener against the Scarlets, McCall suffered a freak injury when doing some additional work after training when he hyper-extended his arm, tearing the tendon. It led to a frustrating three-month stay on the sidelines which, for the Lisburn man, was a bitter pill to swallow having put in a lot of hard work and impressed during pre-season. "It was tough realising I was injured before the first game of the season, I'd put in a lot of graft during pre-season so the first few weeks was tough trying to get my head around that, but once I was back in training it was good for me," admits McCall. "I was given a time frame of 12 weeks and the whole way through I was a couple of weeks ahead of schedule so it was just giving myself a target in different areas to get back playing. "I focused on a few key areas I wanted to work on in the gym, and Dan Soper has been a great addition to the club, he does skill sessions every day with us to keep us on top of that. "It was great to improve myself while injured, but the last few weeks have been great,

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