Munster have been able to include hooker Niall Scannell and centre Antoine Frisch in their travelling squad for Saturday's Champions Cup Round of 16 meeting with the Cell C Sharks in Durban.
The pair missed last weekend's United Rugby Championship defeat to the Glasgow Warriors, with Scannell having suffered a shoulder injury in their previous win against Scarlets, while Frisch injured his leg in training last week.
They are part of a 28-man squad that will depart for Durban tonight, while Peter O'Mahony and Conor Murray are also also named in the touring group, having been rested after Ireland's Six Nations Grand Slam campaign.
RG Snyman looks set to be involved again, named alongside Jean Kleyn and Fineen Wycherley as one of three specialist second rows in the group.
The South African played another 20 minutes off the bench in Saturday's defeat, for what was the second game of his comeback from a career-threatening knee injury, and Rowntree says he's getting closer to a first Munster start since his debut in August 2021.
"Oh he's getting better," Rowntree said
"The way our game has changed since he last played for us, he's had to get up to speed obviously coming back from injury, and he's a huge man. That engine needs a bit of fine-tuning, but he's getting there.
"From what I've seen in our training data and what I'm seeing with my eyes, he's certainly getting fitter and fitter."
The province saw their three-game winning run ended in spectacular fashion by the Warriors on Saturday, falling 31-0 behind against the Scottish side in an eventual 26-38 loss.
In the immediate aftermath of that defeat, the Munster boss said they didn't give a true reflection of themselves in the opening 40 minutes at Thomond Park.
And he's expecting a big reaction in Durban on Saturday.
"I'll get a reaction, the guys are honest, the guys were very down afterwards, as they should be. I was down afterwards, but the beauty of this sport is you have another huge challenge just around the corner, so you've got to deal with it. The pictures are undeniable, some of the pictures, you just have to show them. I don't have to shame them, they know.
"We've just done a good training session, and we're in good nick, we get on the plane tonight looking forward to a massive challenge.
"In this competition, this club, these games away from home... this is why you do it. What a memory this will be, if we get this one right at the weekend."
The Round of 16 game at King's Park in Durban is the first of two visits to the Sharks for Munster in the space of three weeks, with the province due back down in South Africa next month where they will also face the Stormers.
The two-time European champions are the last of the provinces to visit the Durban side since their introduction to the URC last season, with Leinster, Connacht and Ulster all having been to the city in the last 12 months, with Ulster the only of those to win, seeing off Neil Powell's side 31-24 in February.
The Munster coach has been mining his fellow provincial coaches for intel on how to deal with the trip, both on and off the pitch, with high temperatures of around 25C expected for the Saturday afternoon kick-off.
And while he says the heat will be a challenge for his players, he believes the speed of the pitch will suit how his side want to play the game.
"I'd say so, we're certainly looking to play rugby. We don't suddenly become a rubbish team overnight, although half-time didn't feel like that on Saturday. We don't suddenly become rubbish, and as I said on Saturday we can score tries, but we can't give ourselves a mountain to climb, like we did.
"We've been preparing for this quietly, we've had other games to concentrate on, but we've been preparing for these conditions in the background. We've done our research.
"They [the Sharks] can play, crikey. They've some pace on the edges, a monster pack, very similar to playing against Toulouse I'd say. They're big, heavy and quick.
"If you watched them on Saturday, they lost down at Scarlets but they were a handful. They can score tries, but you talk about their power game, it's very impressive. I'd compare them to a Toulouse, the way they're able to play the game, and their qualities you have to respect around their maul and their scrum.
"Our discipline has got to be spot on at the weekend. That's the one thing that was better at the weekend. We conceded seven penalties against Glasgow, our discipline has got to be as good this weekend because I don't really want to be defending mauls all day, with the size of their pack," he added.
Watch Leinster v Ulster in the Heineken Champions Cup on Saturday from 4.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app or listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
