Leinster and Ireland captain Caelan Doris is to miss up to six months of action following surgery on his shoulder.
Leinster Rugby issued an injury bulletin on Monday afternoon, confirming that the Mayo man will be absent for between four and six months after last Friday's procedure.
The number eight was among the favourites to captain the British and Irish Lions on their Tour of Australia but he was omitted from the squad announced by Andy Farrell last week due to the injury picked up in defeat to Northampton Saints in the Champions Cup semi-finals.
In addition to the major disappointment of missing what would have been the first Lions tour of his career, Doris is now a doubt for his country's autumn internationals.
"We're all feeling for Caelan," attack coach Tyler Bleyendaal told RTÉ Sport.
"It’s never a good time for an injury but this timing seems particularly cruel.
F"or him to get up after the incident and then play on for a bit and have to be taken from the field, quite a while after, I think shows that he’s a mentally tough player, physically tough and he really cares for the club."
Ireland, who take on Georgia and Portugal in July, face New Zealand in Chicago on 1 November before hosting Japan, Australia and South Africa in Dublin on the following three weekends.
Head coach Leo Cullen had better news on James Ryan ahead of this Saturday's dead rubber fixture against Glasgow Warriors in Aviva Stadium.
The second row came through last weekend's facile win over Zebre with no issues after his return from injury.
James Culhane will be further assessed this week for an arm injury before a final decision will be made.
There were no new updates on Jordan Larmour, Will Connors and Brian Deeny.
Watch Leinster v Glasgow in the URC on Saturday from 7pm on the RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
