Connacht second row Gavin Thornbury is set for an extended period on the sidelines after the province confirmed he will have surgery on his injured knee.
The lock suffered the injury after an innocuous tackle from former teammate Tietie Tuimauga late in the first half of Friday night's Challenge Cup win against Brive in France.
Head coach Pete Wilkins confirmed this afternoon that the 29-year-old will have surgery on the knee, and while he is yet to put a timeline on the recovery, he says the issue is "serious".
"There is a tendon injury in there, which makes it pretty significant," the head coach said.
"He's seeing a surgeon today so after that we will know more then, it will certainly be a number of weeks if not more. We’ll wait and see but it is serious."
The timing of the injury is cruel for Thornbury, who had been involved in Ireland's Autumn Nations Series preparations in November, featuring for Ireland A, before being kept on to train with the full squad.
The province are counting the cost of Friday's win in France, with Paul Boyle set to miss time with a shoulder injury.
The number eight was replaced early in the game after being on the receiving end of a big double-tackle from Tuimauga and Daniel Brennan.
However Wilkins doesn't believe there was any malice in the incident.
"It's bad timing and horrific luck for the two of them. There were a few former Connacht players out there and it was hard to diagnose if there was intent or not. Certainly, there was no ill-feeling between the players and afterwards and now we’ll just gather around the players who got hurt and support them through the rehab.
"For us, we're more concerned about the boys and once we get an update on the seriousness of the injuries and the length of the lay-offs, that is the main thing.
"Away games in France are very emotional and competitive and physical. There are always aspects that will catch the eye.
"For us, and particularly Gav who has had a fair number of injury lay-offs in recent seasons, we want to make sure he is alright and there is support behind him. We’ll cross the bridge of their expected return when it happens," he added.
After rotating their squad heavily in recent weeks, the province look set to welcome back most of their frontline players for the upcoming Interpros, starting with their meeting with Ulster on Friday night.
Jack Carty, Finlay Bealham, Cian Prendergast and Conor Oliver were among the first team regulars who sat out the Challenge Cup games, while Mack Hansen has returned to full training after a dead leg.
Connacht were soundly beaten 36-10 by Ulster when the sides met in Belfast in Round 1 of the BKT United Rugby Championship this season, but after starting the campaign with three straight defeats, the province have now won six of their last eight in all competitions.
And Wilkins says they've made significant strides since that opening-day defeat at Kingspan Stadium.
"Our set-piece has continued to improve around lineout and maul, our scrum is becoming a real weapon for us and that gives us a massive foundation going into any game.
"We still have the pressure to deliver on that each time, you're only as good as your most recent performance on the set-piece. That gives us a different foundation from which to attack, a different access point to pressure teams.
"Not conceding the penalties we were at the start of the season removes those momentum swings from games, so we’re not perfect. But we feel we’re moving forward and that helps us access a game and stay in the game without releasing pressure," he added.
