Ultan Dillane looks set to miss the start of this year’s Six Nations.

Connacht head coach Pat Lam has confirmed the lock will face five or six weeks out of action due to the ankle injury he suffered in the loss to Ulster in the Guinness PRO12.

Dillane made his debut against England in last year’s competition and has since made eight Irish appearances. He was named the man-of-the-match against Canada during the November series, after scoring his first Irish try.

Ireland open their campaign away to Scotland on February 4.

Dillane is the latest in a long line of Connacht injuries, and Pat Lam says that’s having a big impact on their quality of training.

“The big issue for us at the moment is our weekly prep, when you don’t have numbers on the field” he explained. “The big concern for us is our training. We’ve always been strong on the basis of our training and we’re just not getting enough quality training.

“But it is what it is, we’ve just got to get on and get back into it.”