Munster's Emerging Ireland contingent look set to be available for the province in this weekend's crucial BKT United Rugby Championship meeting with Bulls on Saturday.
The province had nine players away on duty with Emerging Ireland in South Africa in recent weeks, helping Simon Easterby's side to wins against the Griquas, Pumas and Cheetahs, and while they are only due to return to squad training on Thursday, Munster are expecting some of that contingent to feature at Thomond Park this weekend.
Mike Haley joined the long list of outside backs on the injury table last week, and the full-back will also be unavailable on Saturday due to a groin injury.
So stretched have they been in that area that academy pair Conor Phillips and Patrick Campbell started on the wings in the last two games, while Joey Carbery made his first Munster start at full-back in the defeat to Connacht.
The return of the Emerging Ireland contingent (below) looks set to bolster the numbers though, with Calvin Nash, Shane Daly and centre Antoine Frishc among them.
"My understanding is the boys are back in with us on Thursday," said Munster assistant Denis Leamy.
"I think they're back today and have tomorrow off. We expect to see them on Thursday and as far as I'm aware, everyone is available for selection. That's my understanding."
Captain Peter O'Mahony is being monitored for a neck injury after last week's defeat to Connacht, but the flanker was pictured training today at their UL base.
Fineen Wycherley is also a doubt for Saturday due to a knee injury, but centre/wing Liam Coombes has returned to training following a hamstring issue.
And although they do still have several frontline players such as Keith Earls, Andrew Conway and Simon Zebo unavailable, Leamy says the returning Emerging Ireland crop will bring a lot of depth back to the group.
"The Emerging Ireland guys were excellent, we had them for a number of weeks before they went to South Africa. Just looking at their displays individually, I thought to a man they all had big tours.
"That's very exciting. There is a lot of experienced players in Munster, they're still finding their feet and we're coming together. There's an awful lot of young talent. Roman Salanoa to name-check one, a guy we have huge hopes for.
"But to a man, the Emerging group coming back, there's all quality there. We're looking forward to getting those boys back in the building, looking forward to developing them. The experience they've gained down in South Africa will be something that's interesting hearing about as well," he added.
The province welcome the Bulls to Limerick for their first Thomond Park fate of the season, after three games on the road, and one in Musgrave Park.
Their alarming start to the season continued last Friday night with a 20-11 defeat to Connacht, a scoreline which could have been even worse had it not been for some inaccurate Jack Carty kicking.
Bernard Jackman said Munster are "on the way to hitting rock-bottom" after Friday's defeat at Connacht plunged the province into an even deeper crisis.
Their poor performances have been across multiple aspects of their game; Their seven tries and eight clean breaks rank second-last and last in the league respectively, only two sides have conceded more penalties across the opening five games, while Zebre are the only side to have lost more lineouts.
And while Leamy says he accepts the results and performances haven't been up to scratch, he insists they're seeing consistent improvements in training.
"Obviously, the results haven't been what we would like them to be. That's a fact. The spirit around the group is really good, the energy is really good.
"We're seeing stuff in training, we're implementing new game plans. It's obviously a very new coaching group, so when I say improvements in games, we're probably not quite seeing that yet. That's a fair point.
"In training, we're training at a very good tempo, I believe our players are fitter, they're developing skills under pressure.
"We're asking them to play a game that hasn't been asked of them before. Everyone has their own philosophies on the game but we're trying to develop those skillsets to allow us to execute on the pitch."
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