Tom O'Toole: Ulster prop to miss 'approximately a month' of action with groin injury

O'Toole (centre) played the full game as Ulster beat the Bulls on Sunday

Ireland prop Tom O'Toole will have surgery on a "chronic" groin injury and is expected to be out of action for a month, his club Ulster have said.

The 25-year-old played the full 80 minutes in Ulster's 26-19 win over the Bulls on Sunday as Dan McFarland's side made it two wins from two in the United Rugby Championship.

O'Toole returned to his club two weeks ago following a World Cup quarter-final exit with Ireland.

His surgery will take place this week.

Ulster are already without prop Marty Moore, who has been sidelined with a knee injury since New Year's Day.

Ulster have confirmed they will also be without lock Kieran Treadwell for their game away to Connacht on Saturday after he injured his hip in training.

Izuchukwu and Ewers out of Galway game

In a squad update issued on Tuesday afternoon, Ulster also said lock Cormac Izuchukwu and back row Dave Ewers will miss the Galway game as they are undergoing graduated return to play protocols after sustaining head injuries in Sunday's win over the Bulls.

Ulster coach McFarland said the province knew that O'Toole would require surgery following the World Cup but that wasn't going to necessarily rule him out of playing prior to his procedure.

"He could carry on playing in the meantime and he needed a date and the date is next week so he got to play a game in the meantime and now he will be off for whatever it is, four or five weeks," said McFarland on Tuesday.

Dan McFarland says South Africa's World Cup winner Steven Kitshoff is in line to make his Ulster debut against Glasgow on 25 November

The Ulster coach also revealed that South Africa's World Cup winner Steven Kitshoff is in line to make his debut for the Irish province against Glasgow on 25 November.

McFarland said that the loose-head prop's busy number of months as he played in all the Springboks' Rugby Championship games in addition to every warm-up game prior to the World Cup means that he needs some time off over the coming weeks.

"I want him to get a good break so when he comes in here he's feeling fresh and he feels looked after and he can hit the ground running. He'll be back and available I think for the Glasgow game."

Ulster travel to Connacht on Saturday on the back of successive United Rugby Championship wins, having also beaten Zebre in their opener.

It will be the first time the provinces have met since Connacht beat Ulster in Belfast in last season's URC quarter-finals.

Quarter-final loss part of Connacht equation - McFarland

The Ulster coach that memories of that disappointment should be part of the equation for his squad going into this weekend's game in Galway.

"There's always an element of 'the last time we wet we didn't do ourselves justice'.

"I thought they played very well in that game and we played one of our worst games of the year.

"Is it the biggest thing? I don't think so. We need a combination of understanding that we need heart and passion and that little bit of a feeling of letting ourselves down the last time but we also need to be clinical and good at the rugby.

"In their first two games of the year [wins over Ospreys and Glasgow], I thought Connacht were playing really good rugby so we'll have to be on the money rugby wise as well as pumped up for it."