Warburton out for rest of year as old neck injury needs operation

you get knocked over. It is in front of their fans, who will be expecting a big effort after a couple of losses, and they’ll be desperate to deliver, so that will bring a massive amount of physicality.

“We need to match that and be a lot more accurate with our skills [than against Ospreys] so we can maintain the ball for longer periods and dictate the pace of the game. Ultimately we’ve got to have faith in our squad and also focus on our own performance.”

Head coach Dave Rennie will name his team for the match on Friday and O’halloran was coy about speculating on any changes to the squad following opening wins away to Connacht and at home to Ospreys.

“I can’t give too much away to be honest,” he added.

“We just had to see how guys came through training today. It’s not my job to give too much away at this stage to be honest.

“Dave’s general philosophy, if you’ve followed him through the Chiefs, has been to rotate the squad and try and create competition for places.

“We’ve probably used 26 or 27 guys in the first couple of games and I’d imagine there would be another four of five newbies this time around. I think that’s great.”

Lions wing Tommy Seymour has had an extended rest period after his summer exploits but the attack coach admitted that he may be close to be being back involved this weekend.

“I think he is ready to go now if he needs to,” said O’halloran.

“He’s enthusiastic and energetic. We gave him an extra week, ten days over and above the other guys. I think he’s pretty keen to have a run potentially.”