Connacht will be able to welcome Cian Prendergast and Josh Ioane back to their side for Saturday's BKT United Rugby Championship trip to the Dragons, but Finlay Bealham remains a doubt due to concussion.
Bealham missed last weekend’s 52-0 win against Black Lion in the Challenge Cup after suffering his concussion in the previous week’s defeat to Ospreys at Brewery Field, and is continuing the follow the return to play protocols.
Ioane missed both Challenge Cup rounds with a groin injury, but has returned to full training, as has Prendergast, who last featured for Ireland in the Autumn Nations Series against South Africa in November.
The Connacht captain played in three of Ireland’s four games in the international window, and was one of few players who stood out across the month, not least in the eyes of Connacht senior coach Rod Seib.
"I'll try to say that in an unbiased way, but I really did think he made a genuine impact," Seib said, ahead of Saturday’s game against the Dragons.
"As I mentioned before, when we see Connacht players represent Ireland, obviously we have a real keen interest in that and Cian's come on and every time he came on he made a real impact.
"So I would hope that the coaches in that Ireland set-up really noticed that and I'm sure they'll figure in his plans heavily moving forward."
Saturday’s game at Rodney Parade will be the province’s third trip to Wales already this season, having lost away to Cardiff in the URC, before another disappointing Challenge Cup away day against Ospreys 10 days ago.
All in all, the province have now lost each of their last three games in Wales, having previously won seven in a row away to the Welsh regions.
Connacht do have an impressive record against Saturday’s opponents, winning six of their last seven meetings, while they've won four in a row in Newport dating back to 2017.
Dragons are yet to win this season in the URC, with two draws and four defeats from their six games, but they did break that winless run in the Challenge Cup last weekend with a 23-21 win against Lyon, while they ran Leinster close at the end of November.
"We know travelling to Wales is tough. It's shown how tough it's been for us this year.
"So we're not underestimating this trip at all. We know within the context of the season, this is really important for us to move our game forward. So we know it's going to be a hostile crowd down there.
"And once again, they're the games you want to really go and succeed at. You don't want to go out there with a passive crowd with nothing to play for. So we do expect that they'll come in on a high after the good win on the weekend.
"So they'll be riding a bit of a crest of a wave. So it's important for us to really start well, to set the foundations of the game up early, and then to grind out 80 minutes," added Seib.
While the routine win against Georgia’s Black Lion back on track in the Challenge Cup, the province are still fighting for consistency this season under their new coaching ticket of Seib and head coach Stuart Lancaster.
After three defeats from four in the opening block, they produced an excellent win over the Sharks at the end of November, before giving up a 21-0 lead away to Ospreys a week later, losing 24-0.
But Seib believes that international break in November has allowed them to take a stap back and reassess their first block in charge of the team.
"To have that time there, we're still navigating and working out the best way for the team and the best way that we work together as coaches," the Australian, who joined from the Brumbies, added.
"So to have that little pause there was a good little pulse-check so we could find out and really spend that time discussing what works and review hard and then look forward to the next few games.
"Every time we play, we're learning stuff. Certainly every game we've played this year I’ve learned something about the group and how they respond and how they react to different situations.
"So whilst we come away from a game at the Ospreys and we're disappointed with the outcome and we can be frustrated with what happened, the reality is we've learned an awful lot. So it could be the making of us."
Saturday’s match in Newport will be the fourth of a 10-game block for each team leading up to the Six Nations.
With that week-on-week period made up of the European pool stages, as well as three Interpros, this meaty chunk of the season will have a major say in whether the campaign is a success or failure.
"I think it's huge," scrum-half Caolin Blade (above) says, explaining how the province are breaking the 10-week block into three chunks.
"I think we've taken it as a three-game block here, because we're going obviously Dragons this weekend, and then we're going into the two Interpros, which are huge.
"We had a good look back at the last couple of years, and we probably haven't performed as well over Christmas periods, and it's kind of put us in a little bit of a hole.
"So I think it's going to be a huge focus for the next three games, and we kind of reassess after that. So we're trying not to think too far ahead.
"If this Christmas period doesn't go well, you find yourself chasing a little bit."
