Bowe blow for Ulster, Ireland

Tommy Bowe is set to be sidelined for a maximum of eight weeks after sustaining a shoulder injury in Ulster's drubbing at the hands of Leinster on Saturday.

Ulster director of rugby Less Kiss would have been disappointed with his side's performance and confirmed that Bowe would be ruled out for 'anything up to eight (weeks)'.

"It looks like it's around the sternum but we're doing more tests," Kiss told the BBC.

"The doc said weeks so that could be anything getting up to eight. That's a shame for him."

The 33-year-old's injury has dealt a serious blow to his chances of being named in Ireland's Six Nations squad.

Meanwhile, Leinster's six-try demolition of his side at the RDS means Kiss' side are now only three points ahead of Edinburgh, who occupy fourth spot in Conference B.

Kiss slammed his team's performance on Saturday as 'unacceptable' but vowed that his side would bounce back in Saturday's European Champions Cup game against La Rochelle.

"There is always pressure in the game. The noise is out there. I understand that," added Ulster's director of rugby.

"I know it doesn't look like it but we are doing a lot of good things. We have got to do a lot of other things better.

"We've got a chance in Europe now. We've got to respond like we did last week (against Munster) and do something about it."

When asked whether Leinster are on another planet to his side, Kiss accepted that is true "at the moment".

"They are, aren't they? You can tell by the scoreline. It's an inter-pro. We should be better than that.

"We didn't control anything around the ball that gave us a chance to contain them or put pressure on them.

"They had a really easy ride. We weren't good enough. That's the bottom line."