Furlong could return against Pumas but O'Toole out

Tom O'TooleImage source, Inpho
Image caption,

Tom O'Toole won his 14th Test cap against New Zealand

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Ulster prop Tom O'Toole will miss Ireland's Test against Argentina at the Aviva Stadium on Friday night.

The 26-year-old replaced Finlay Bealham after 58 minutes in the 23-13 loss to the All Blacks last week, but lasted only two minutes before a head injury forced him off.

With Tadhg Furlong, who missed out against New Zealand with a hamstring injury, still a doubt to face the Pumas, Leinster's Tom Clarkson could be in line for an Ireland debut.

The 24-year-old has played 47 times for his province and was initially included in the squad for the November as a 'training panellist'.

Andy Farrell's side have fallen to third in the world rankings after their latest defeat, a third in their past five games dating back to the Six Nations.

“I think it's only natural that there’s a bit of hurt, but there’s no anger,” said Aled Walters, the side's head of athletic performance.

“It’s a group that doesn’t seem to be used to losing all that much, it’s probably an environment that’s been immediately down in the changing room but as I understand, Faz [Farrell] is pretty good at getting things back on track fairly quickly, and the coaches and leaders the same. They were pretty good today.

"It's how quickly you can summarise and understand what went wrong. We came in yesterday and got started, a lot of that was understanding what didn't work.

"It's pretty clear what we need to get right in order to function and be at our best."