Cardiff Blues were left to count the cost of defeat to Ulster Rugby as both Rhys Patchell and Cory Allen were forced off inside the first ten minutes through injury.
Wales international centre Allen was forced off with a shoulder injury inside the opening minutes as Ulster made a flying start at the Kingspan Stadium.
Patchell was then stretchered off after several minutes of treatment after an ugly collision with Nick Williams, that saw the Ulster man yellow carded.
Coach Paul John admitted the double injury blow of losing two key men so early on had left Cardiff Blues with a huge challenge.
However, he was able to report promising news over the fitness of Patchell after he was taken to hospital.
He said: “Rhys is up talking and is being assessed. He is up and chatting and they will look to keep him in overnight as a precaution and go from there. It is positive from what it looked like at the time.
“He has jarred his neck at the time which is why he has gone off on the stretcher. He had the best possible care which was great to see.
“The good news is he is aware of everything and we’re looking forward to some good news on Patch.
“We also lost Cory with a shoulder injury early on. To suffer two injuries like we did early on, we took time to recover from it. But we showed great spirit in that second half to fight-back.”