Connacht are hopeful that captain Cian Prendergast will be fit for Saturday's EPCR Challenge Cup quarter-final against Racing 92 at Dexcom Stadium.
The back row missed Saturday's 35-20 win against Cardiff in Galway following the concussion he suffered against Munster 10 days ago, with the 25-year-old currently following the graduated return to play protocols.
Prendergast’s mandatory 12-day stand-down period is set to finish on Thursday, and if he passes those checks he is in line to be available for selection this Saturday.
"He's working through his protocols, so we just have to get the outcome of that first," scrum coach Cullie Tucker said.
"He's in good form and he's training away. We'd be positive there.
"The process is 12 days, so after that every day he has to hit certain markers. Our medical team are outstanding in terms of monitoring that.
"I'm guided by those guys, but everything is tracking positively so far."
Connacht put their poor URC form behind them to defeat Cardiff in the Round of 16 last week, setting up a home quarter-final against the French giants, who got the better of their Top14 rivals Perpignan to move into the last eight at the weekend.
It’s been a difficult season for the Parisians, who parted company with head coach Stuart Lancaster (above) at the end of January.
Racing sit 11th in the Top14 table, but have picked up form under Lancaster’s replacement Patrice Collazo, winning four of their last five games in all competitions.
And Tucker, who is filling in as Connacht head coach while Pete Wilkins remains on sick leave, believes Connacht will need to raise their game if they’re to book a semi-final against either Lyon or the Ospreys.
"I think we just have to concentrate on ourselves. Racing's squad is so big, and it's so packed with quality that they could bring any number of teams.
"We've got to be massively focused on the threats they bring, Nolann Le Garrec, Owen Farrell, [Gael] Fickou, the list goes on and on, [Josua] Tuisova, so there's loads of quality.
"Whatever they bring over will be stacked with quality. It's being aware of their threats but focusing on our own structures and systems.
"You're coming up against combinations you're not used to coming up against. There's that bit of an unknown to it.
"When you rattle off the names you can see the challenge that they possess, the quality they have in their squad, but also how exciting it is to play against the international quality they have and test themselves at that level," he added.
Further improvements will be needed defensively if Connacht are to progress.
While they eventually pulled clear of Cardiff last week, they continued to give up soft tries to Matt Sherratt’s side, following on from porous defensive performances against Munster, Ospreys and Benetton in recent weeks.
"I made reference to the try they scored before half-time when we had the sin-bin. It wasn't perfect, but Cardiff were flagging after that and looked a bit tired after that. Making teams work hard or scores has to be part of our DNA.
"We saw it before half-time, they really had to work hard and stretch us. At times you say fair play, but certainly the two in the second half, missed one on one collisions, they were disappointing.
"We reviewed that hard, and the boys understand where we need to be better," Tucker added.
Watch Leinster v Glasgow Warriors in the Investec Champions Cup on Friday from 7.35pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app, and listen to live commentary on RTE Radio 1
Watch Ireland v England in the Guinness Women’s Six Nations on Saturday from 4pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Listen to Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
