Denis Buckley is poised to make his return from an ACL injury for Connacht in their URC at home to Glasgow Warriors on Saturday.
It would be a timely comeback for the experienced loosehead as far as the westerners are concerned, given that Andy Friend had to do without six of his most experienced props at Stade Francais last Sunday and will be without Finlay Bealham during the Six Nations.
Connacht qualified for the Champions Cup quarter-finals despite their third loss in a row in the pool but would have won in Paris had they more front row strength in depth.
"We were stretched at the weekend, with respect to the guys that were out there," admitted Connacht's senior coach Pete Wilkins.
"We managed to get 23 out there and got the game played which is important for all sorts of reasons.
"We will get some reinforcements this week - Denis Buckley has been back training for a few weeks now and will be available for selection, and Tietie (Tuimauga) will be back available again, so there will be some reinforcements coming through.
"We'll be in a stronger position than the last couple of weeks in terms of availability."
Buckley last played on May 29 last year, when he suffered the injury in Connacht's URC encounter with Benetton.
It was the Roscommon man's 200th game for the province.
"It's a massive boost," said Wilkins.
"Certainly, in terms of personnel you want on the field, there's merits to having the young guys come in in the last 20 minutes with the enthusiasm and energy they bring, but also you're grateful if you have some experienced heads out there.
"It's not just their knowledge of the game but also their knowledge of being in those tight finishes, and how they can manage their own part of the game, their own part of the team, but also the composure and the messaging that they can spread to some other guys.
"There's enormous positives around that, Denis has worked enormously hard to get back to full fitness, and has done so in a really good timeframe. It's a massive boost to have him available."
Wilkins added: "It's a testament to the work that Denis has done, but also the medical and support staff behind the scenes.
"You never like to see someone with long term injuries, and it's always a great challenge for them - not just from the physical perspective - but how they manage that time and state of mind when they work back to being available for selection.
"I know for him, until he's selected and plays a game and gets those minutes under his belt, it won't quite close the loop on it, but he's certainly getting very close to that and we're really excited for him."
Connacht, who will be without their key men Bealham, Jack Carty and Bundee Aki during the Six Nations, have to readjust their mindset after coughing up two healthy leads against Leicester Tigers and Stade in the last two weeks in Europe.
"I think it matters in terms of what we learned from those games," said Wilkins.
"The similarity is that we had leads in both of those games against two good teams and we weren't able to see it home, so we've got to be brutally honest about that as we have been with feedback to players after the game, and the team review this morning.
"The important thing is understanding the differences in how it didn't work out. In the Leicester game we said openly that we went into our shells and gave up possession too easily in terms of kicking the ball away and being too conservative.
"In the case of Stade at the weekend, we probably took it too far the other way in terms of overplaying.
"We wanted to keep firing shots, but it wasn't accurate enough. If we can get the lessons from that and find the balance in between, the two losses become very important lessons for us."
Glasgow will turn up with a familiar face this weekend, with long-time Connacht servant Nigel Carolan returning as part of the Warriors' coaching team having left last summer.
Wilkins said: "Everyone is looking forward to seeing Nigel. It's probably more of an occasion for him in terms of coming to his home patch rather than the other way around, but we'll look forward to seeing him.
"From what we've seen of Glasgow they've been true to their identity in terms of the last few seasons that they want to run the ball, they want to play with possession and want to work you around and identify space.
"We're expecting to be up against a possession team, a team that kicks less and shorter than our opponents in the last few weeks with Stade and Leicester.
"It'll be a great challenge, two teams that want to play rugby and be in possession of the ball. It's not just about the battle for possession, it's also about how efficient you are with it. It shapes up for a really exciting game."
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