Ulster hooker Rob Herring is rated highly unlikely to feature in Ireland’s Six Nations fixture after sustaining an arm injury in training.
Manager Andy Farrell will on Wednesday name his training squad for the main tournament against France on February 2.
The 33-year-old, who has 39 caps for Ireland, may need surgery.
“I don’t think his prospects for the Six Nations are very good at the moment,” head coach Dan McFarland said after Ulster lost 48-24 to Toulouse in the Investec Champions Cup on RTÉ He told Sport.
“He hasn’t been seen by a surgeon yet, but he will probably need treatment. It was a harmless tackle in training.”
Herring’s teammate Tom Stewart (below), who scored Ulster’s first try against the French side, could be included in the reckoning, along with Leinster regulars Dan Sheehan and Ronan Kelleher.
“We have to face the fact that they’re a really good team,” McFarland said of the seven-try loss, their second defeat of the season.
“I’m happy to be able to play against a team of such quality in this tournament, but I think we certainly weren’t able to do what we could on tonight’s stage.
“They did a great job of exploiting our mistakes. Against a team like Toulouse you have to be crisp, clean and play fair against them.
“I was really happy that we got the momentum of the game and scored some tries at the end of the second half to put us in a position to get a bonus point.
“I couldn’t quite finish it.
“It’s a disappointing changing room there, but that’s professional sport. You lose games. Even Toulouse lose games here and there.”