Leinster will find out later this week the extent of the punishment for James Ryan's red card and how it will affect their Champions Cup preparations.
The 29-year-old Ireland second row was sent off during Saturday's 24-13 defeat to South Africa in Dublin.
Initially shown a yellow card for making contact with Malcolm Marx’s face as he attempted a clear-out, the foul play review officer Dan Jones upgraded the card to a 20-minute red.
That meant that Ryan’s game was over but Ireland were able to send on Cian Prendergast 20 minutes later.
Some, including former Ireland hooker Bernard Jackman, felt that Ireland were lucky on that count and that the challenge "probably could have been a straight red".
Ryan has made 78 international appearances, including two for the British and Irish Lions last summer, and has 98 Leinster appearances to his name.
Saturday’s red card was the first of his career.
Law 9.11 states "players must not do anything that is reckless or dangerous to others".
Penalties under this range from the low point of two weeks, a mid-range of six weeks, to a maximum of 52 weeks, while it is pointed out that "any act of foul play which results in contact with the head shall result in at least a mid-range entry point sanction."
"Yeah, he's got a hearing in the middle of the week, as far as I'm aware," head coach Leo Cullen told RTÉ Sport.
Ireland are over through Tadhg Beirne, but it's ruled out for an illegal clear-out by James Ryan. It was later upgraded to a 20-minute red card.
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) November 22, 2025
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"It's a Wednesday or a Thursday, I'm not 100% sure yet.
"But, yeah, I haven't been dealing with that now personally.
"We've had some conversations today."
Ryan would have been unlikely to feature in Friday’s night URC game away to Dragons but would have come into the reckoning for their Champions Cup double-header at home to Harlequins and away to Leicester Tigers in the following fortnight.
The November series has already come at a cost to the URC champions, who were already without Ireland full-back Hugo Keenan (hip) until the New Year.
Forward Ryan Baird (leg) and back Jamie Osborne (shoulder) are both facing races to be fit for the Six Nations with the pair set to be sidelined for up to three and four months respectively following injuries during the autumn window.
The bad injury news keeps coming for Andy Farrell and Ireland – and there could be more to come on Tuesday when Connacht provide an update on Mack Hansen. pic.twitter.com/YR7tjGFSfh
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) November 24, 2025
Tommy O’Brien (head) and Robbie Henshaw (hamstring) will also sit out Friday night’s clash after picking up their injuries on international duty.
Cullen said: "Some of the players pick up things, but that's the world that we live in, isn't it?
"So, I wouldn't get too perturbed by that.
"If a player falls down, it's the next person that comes in and making sure that they're ready. We've had a big group of players away for the last five weeks."
Lock Joe McCarthy (above) is closing in on a return after a foot injury suffered during the summer, but Cullen indicated that he wouldn’t push the 23-year-old, who also broke a bone in his foot during his rehab.
"I think we just want to be sensible with Joe," he said.
"He trained [Monday]. So we'll ramp that up again later in the week and certainly be good to go next week [against Harlequins], hopefully.
"But, again, let's just try to get a player back safely from being out for a while then."
Meanwhile, Cullen confirmed that New Zealand centre Rieko Ioane will join the club later this week as he starts his short-term contract, following in the footsteps of compatriot Jordie Barrett, who took his All Blacks sabbatical with Leinster last season.
The 28-year-old didn't play against Ireland or England in this window but started and scored in Saturday’s win over Wales.
"It's a competitive group over there, but he brings a wealth of experience," said Cullen, whose side sit seventh in the URC table after five rounds.
"What? [88] caps and [39] Test tries. So, yeah, he's got some decent pedigree. We're looking forward to getting him in.
"It will be bit of a shock to the system for him this time of year.
"He's given up a summer in Auckland for a winter in Dublin. So, yeah, it'll be good for him.
"So he was beating the door down to try and get in for the opportunity to come here, which is wonderful to get that coming the other way.
"Someone that's mad keen to get here and try and learn.
"He was certainly looking at Jordie and seeing how he went about his time here. We've sort of seen how that has worked.
"Jordie was probably the guinea pig of doing this.
"I think a lot of our younger players got a hell of a lot from Jordie and hopefully a lot of our young players will learn a lot from Rieko as well. And not just the young guys, the senior guys as well.
"How he goes about his preparation and the different challenges that he would have faced over the course of his career as well.
"So, it's never a perfect career in professional sport.
"Certainly, professional rugby is rarely smooth sailing so just trying to learn from some of those different experiences I think is invaluable."
