Henderson out for six weeks

RUGBY: Munster and Rob Henderson had their worst fears confirmed yesterday when a scan on the Irish and Lions centre's injured arm revealed he had sustained a torn tendon which will sideline him for at least four to six weeks.

Not only does this rule him out of Munster's Heineken European Cup match against Perpignan in Thomond Park next Saturday and the following weekend's Celtic League game at home to Caerphilly, but it will probably rule Henderson out of consideration for Ireland's November internationals at home to Australia, Fiji and Argentina.

Henderson might, at a push, be back in time for the ensuing Celtic League quarter-finals and the back-to-back European Cup meetings with Viadana in early December. On top of the injuries to Donnacha O'Callaghan, Paul O'Connell, David Wallace and Anthony Horgan, it's another cruel blow for Alan Gaffney's team after their initial defeat to Gloucester on Saturday.

That opening fixture was watched by a BBC audience which peaked at a remarkable 3.3 million, the second highest figure ever to watch a European Cup match on BBC, eclipsed only by their first live broadcast in the competition, between Bath and Toulouse three years ago.

David Humphreys will see a specialist today about his injured ankle and coach Alan Solomons was unable to speculate as to whether the Irish outhalf will be fit for Ulster's game, at home to Cardiff on Friday night, but the odds must be against it.

Meanwhile Ireland's pool opponents in next year's World Cup in Australia were completed over the weekend when Namibia scraped through despite losing their final qualifying match to Tunisia 24-17 at Stade El Menzahin in Tunis.

After taking a seven-point deficit into the second leg of the home-and-away series, Tunisia tied the aggregate score 43-all with their seven-point win but due to the fact that Namibia scored more tries in the series, they qualified and will now head to Australia next year.

Namibia complete Pool A alongside defending champions Australia, Argentina, Ireland and Romania, while Tunisia are re-routed to the repechage system. Georgia also qualified for the finals for the first time by beating Russia 17-13 and will compete in Pool C against South Africa, England, Samoa and Uruguay, while Russia will now have to come through a six-match repechage system if they are to fill one of the last two spots in the finals.