JJ Hanrahan is in line to make his long-awaited return from injury for Connacht in this week's EPCR Challenge Cup trip to Cardiff, with the province confirming the out-half is available for selection.
Hanrahan hasn't played since suffering an ACL injury in April of last year, after what had been an impressive debut season to that point with Connacht.
The Kerryman had established himself as first-choice out-half for the province last season, playing in 19 of their 21 games across the URC, Champions and Challenge Cups, before suffering his knee injury on 27 April against the Dragons, who he had joined Connacht from the previous summer.
"JJ is available for selection this week," Connacht head coach Pete Wilkins said.
"First and foremost I have to acknowledge the journey he's been on, the last game of rugby over in Dragons in April.
"It’s a lonely journey as you’ll all be aware with these long-term injuries. The way he has grafted away has been unbelievably professional.
"He’s broken up that rehab into bite-size chunks and gone about his business really well. For him to get to this point is fantastic and credit to him.
"In terms of where he’s at, he’s been training fully with the team for the last couple of weeks, and outside of that training we have been topping up his running load and contact load, as if to replicate the fact he’s been playing games on weekends.
"He’s fit and ready to go, how we use him this weekend we'll have to wait and see. It’s brilliant to have him back in the mix."
Hanrahan's injury (above) forced Connacht into an emergency signing of former All Black Josh Ioane, who has shared out-half duties with Jack Carty so far this season, but the return of 32-year-old Hanrahan is a major boost for the province, who have lost five of their last six URC games.
After Friday's Challenge Cup meeting with Cardiff, the province host Glasgow Warriors, with their next three games scattered across a period of eight weeks due to the Six Nations breaks.
And Wilkins believes that schedule will suit Hanrahan nicely, as he bids to get back up to full speed.
"In terms of the stop-start nature of the next period it's a good thing. There’s an opportunity to either start him or use him on the bench in some of those games but there’s also significant training time in between to make sure he’s not just keeping up with the return to play, but also that he’s getting a chance to impress.
"Looking at that group now you have Jack Carty, who is fit and having played a couple of good games recently. Josh Ioane ,who has all the talent in the world, and then JJ coming back into the mix. It's going to be a challenge to work out who the tens are if we are taking two in the 23 this week.
"They're all getting a chance to impress and often as coaches we talk about the importance of training form and pushing your cause, but with those three guys you’ll see a really interesting battle and it certainly won't be easy for us to split them," Wilkins added.
Last Saturday's 52-24 win against Lyon means Connacht are already guaranteed to finish first in Pool 1 of the Challenge Cup, regardless of Friday's result in Cardiff.
Wilkins has confirmed that Ireland internationals Bundee Aki and Finlay Bealham are available for selection, with no constraints around their load management after they were rested for the opening games in December.
Denis Buckley (dead leg) and Oisín Dowling (calf strain) have both been ruled out for this week, joining Darragh Murray, Sean O'Brien, Hugh Gavin, Shayne Bolton, John Porch, Andrew Smith and the suspended Mack Hansen on the list of players unavailable.
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