By JOHN FALLON

CONNACHT coach Pete Wilkins said that the extent of the shoulder injury picked up by Irish winger Mack Hansen won’t be known until he undergoes some scans.

Hansen was in considerable pain as he was helped off after being injured as Connacht dug deep to end a five-match losing run in very difficult conditions at the Sportsground.

“Mack injured his shoulder, receiving a cleanout at that breakdown,” said Wilkins. “The severity of that we will have to see. Mack is pretty sore downstairs to be honest but we will get the scans and see where he is at.”

Connacht finished the game with 14 men having opted for a 6:2 bench split, with centre Cathal Forde and scrum-half Caolin Blade also going off injured.

“Fordy went off with a shoulder injury, like an AC joint, not sure at this stage of the severity of it. Hopefully not too bad but it was enough for his immediate removal. Straight away your 6-2 bench split starts to look a little bit skinny in terms of that, but we trained for that, losing one of our backs with JJ (Hanrahan) going to full- back and Jack (Carty) going to ten. I think that was important in terms of the lads having some cohesion but also mentally in terms of riding out what could have been a major disruption.

“Caolin Blade failed a HIA which he went off with, with 15 minutes to go and then Mack injured his shoulder. To finish the game with 14 men and see it out in that fashion, I suppose that is the satisfaction,” he added.

Wilkins said that the injuries picked up by Hansen and Munster’s Jack O’Donoghue, the latter earning Connacht winger Byron Ralston a yellow card, cause angst for coaches.

“I was coming down for half-time and was standing in the technical area for the Byron one. I think where players are making contact with the lower limbs of players contesting the ball, I know that is something that the powers that be want to be particularly hard on this year.

Pictured: Connacht’s Joe Joyce and Jarrad Butler on the attack against Munster’s Rory Scannell and Conor Murray during Monday’s UFC clash at the Sportsground. Photos: Joe O’Shaughnessy.