Ireland will be without Mack Hansen for the Six Nations after Connacht confirmed the winger suffered a dislocated shoulder against Munster. He will undergo surgery today.
The 25-year-old will be out for three to four months, the province announced.
Hansen, who has scored nine tries in 21 international appearances, was replaced late in the 22-9 BTK URC win on New Year's Day.
"It's disappointing for us to lose Mack for such a period of time," head coach Pete Wilkins told RTÉ Sport.
"Obviously there'll be a knock-on effect to the Irish campaign in the Six Nations and most of all disappointment for Mack.
"He was starting to find some form and rhythm having been a little bit stop-start since the World Cup.
"Everyone loses out in that sense and the fans will miss watching him play as well so it's up to us to fill that gap and other players get a chance to step up.
"He's not lost his sense of humour, thankfully, he was in with us at the end of last week so very much around the place albeit in a sling.
"He's gone off for surgery today. We've had lots of contact with him. It's about trying to keep his spirits up. The key thing is to get this surgery and these initial couple of days out of the way and you can start on that rehab campaign.
"He's had a shoulder injury before, a similar injury when he was at Brumbies in Australia so although that's unfortunate to have it twice, at the same time he's familiar with the surgical process, familiar with rehab and that length of time."
Wilkins added that he was surprised that the clear-out that led to the incident didn't merit more scrutiny and revealed that winger Byron Ralston was cited for the challenge that led to Jack O'Donoghue's injury.
Ralston's challenge was reviewed by the officials on the field and the Australian was sin-binned.
"We were surprised there wasn't at least further scrutiny on the clear-out to be brutally honest but if the citing officer decides that it's not at least a discussion level of being a possible red card then there's no further we can take it," he said.
"Byron Ralston was cited and we had a hearing for him on Friday and the URC are yet to announce the outcome of that."
Meanwhile, scrum-half Caolin Blade (above) will go through the return-to-play protocols after suffering a head injury in the same game. He will be assessed during the week to see if he can play against Lyon on Saturday in round three of the Champions Cup.
Centre Cathal Forde suffered a shoulder injury against Munster and has been ruled out of contention for the game against Lyon and the following week's match against Bristol.
Back row Sean Jansen has recovered from an abdomen strain and is available.
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