As Henderson pointed out, this run of games always promised to be a brutal assessment of Ulster’s progress.
That they have had to face Leinster and the current top two in French rugby without a host of established players – Jacob Stockdale, Tom Stewart, John Cooney and James Hume chief among them – has only added to the challenge.
The flip side, of course, is that Murphy has been able to expose the younger members of his squad to some of the toughest tests in club rugby.
Last week, James McCormick and Ben Carson were among those to make their European debuts. On Saturday, Ireland Sevens star Zac Ward was given his senior XVs debut while Rory Telfer and James Humphreys came off the bench late for their first taste of Champions Cup action.
Exposure to such unforgiving environments can be a lot for untested players to absorb, but Henderson insists it will be beneficial for the squad’s long-term development.
“There’s always disappointment after losing big games, especially the manner we’ve lost our last two, but that’s part of the learning process, part of the pain you have to go through to get better,” he explained.
“Ensuring a lot of our players are getting exposure to the top level will definitely stand to them. Especially to those couple of guys getting their first cap tonight; I thought Zac did really well, Telf probably didn’t get enough to show what he can actually do.
“But those guys, and last week as well, getting exposure at that level, they can only learn from that and ideally get better.”
