Connacht captain Cian Prendergast will miss Saturday's EPCR Challenge Cup round of 16 meeting with Cardiff following the serious head injury he sustained against Munster.
Prendergast was taken to Mayo University Hospital as a precaution following the incident in last Saturday's 30-24 defeat, having appeared to lose consciousness after a collision with Munster's Alex Nankivell at a ruck. Nankivell was given a red card for the challenge by referee Craig Evans, but the province have confirmed they will appeal the decision.
The 25-year-old was discharged from hospital on Sunday and will naturally play no part in this Saturday's Challenge Cup knockout game at Dexcom Stadium, with the province suggesting me may be allowed to return to some form of training next week as he follows the return to play protocols.
And while Prendergast will have no presence on the pitch this week, Connacht's stand-in coach Cullie Tucker believes the captain will still have a huge influence on the team behind the scenes.
"He was in first thing Monday morning. He's been around the squad helping us prep," Tucker (below) said.
"He’s a lineout nause, as they say, so he’s been helping us put plans in place for both sides of the ball.
"He’s doing very well and he’s in good spirits. We’re very pleased to say he’s in a good place and all scans checked out clear. He’s well on the road to recovery.
"His knowledge of the lineout and the amount of work he does himself means we’d be silly not to tap into it. John Muldoon has a great working group around the lineout, and Cian is a big part of that. He runs that group well."
In better news for the province, wing Shayne Bolton and scrum-half Ben Murphy have returned to training.
Bolton missed the defeat to Munster with a sprained foot, while Murphy has been out since the end of February with a broken finger.
While Connacht have scored 102 points in their last three games, the province only have one win to show for their efforts, with high-scoring defeats to Ospreys and Munster in their last two games. In both games, they fell short of miracle comebacks, having also come from behind to beat Benetton last month.
And Tucker is calling on his side to play from the start, against a Cardiff side they have already beaten twice since the middle of January.
"Getting off to a good start doesn't have to be racing away to a big lead. It can just be getting yourself into the game. It could be a good scrum, a good lineout, a good maul, a good carry, just getting yourself into the game early so we don't have any lapses in concentration.
"It doesn't mean you have to be 21 points or 14 points up, but that your intent and concentration is full from the start, for the entire 80.
"It’s knockout rugby, and we’re at home which is a massive advantage.
"We know each other very well, we've played each other twice. It’s a game we’re massively looking forward to, we had a very good training session this morning, we have another Thursday and we’ll be ready to fire," he added.
Watch Leinster v Harlequins in the Champions Cup on Saturday from 2.15pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app.
Listen to live commentary of La Rochelle v Munster (5.30pm) and updates from Leinster v Harlequins (3pm) in the Champions Cup on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
