Leinster flanker Will Connors has suffered another setback in an injury-plagued campaign after his province confirmed that the 25-year-old will be sidelined for up to 10 weeks due to a knee ligament injury.
Connors sustained the injury in his sole start of the season, and just his second appearance, when withdrawn after half an hour of the URC game away to Cardiff just over a week ago.
He had previously played the last quarter of the game against Ulster in November, his first outing in eight months after overcoming a knee injury before he then sustained a hamstring injury in training. It has been a desperately unfortunate year for the nine-times capped Connors, who looked set to be a fixture in the Irish squad during last season's Six Nations.
There was positive news regarding Dave Kearney, who has returned to full training having recovered from a back injury. Josh Murphy has also recovered from a chest injury picked up against Bath and will be available for selection for Leinster's URC game against Edinburgh at the RDS next Friday (kick-off 6pm).
Joe McCarthy, a debutant in the defeat against Cardiff, sustained an injury to his shoulder in that game and will be monitored in training this week before a final decision is made.
There were no further updates on James Lowe (hamstring), Dan Leavy (wrist), Conor O'Brien (hamstring) and Michael Milne (calf).
