James Lowe has returned to Leinster training and his progress will be eagerly observed by Ireland boss Andy Farrell.
After the high of his November performances in green, Lowe missed out on a place in Farrell's initial Six Nations plans due to a calf injury suffered on the eve of the squad announcement.
Mack Hansen made his debut in the championship opener against Wales and, after a man of the match display in that fixture, scored a try in Ireland's loss to France in Paris last Saturday.
But Farrell will be keen to get Lowe back involved for at least a couple of fixtures next month, with the home clash against Italy on Sunday week possibly coming too soon for the exciting winger.
Meanwhile, Leinster have been hit by the loss of Ciaran Frawley for four to six weeks, while Ulster's Ethan McIlroy is added to their casualty list ahead of the latest round of URC fixtures.
Leinster host Ospreys at the RDS on Saturday (5pm) and, while Cian Healy, Ryan Baird and Jordan Larmour have been released for the game, the loss of Frawley for that length of time is a blow.
The versatile backline performer suffered a facial injury in last Friday night's victory over Edinburgh and underwent a procedure that will keep him out for at least a month.
Dave Kearney and Connacht-bound Josh Murphy came through their return to action unscathed at the weekend
In other positive news, both Josh Murphy and Dave Kearney came through their returns from injury against Edinburgh without any issue.
Rhys Ruddock, ruled out before the win against the Scottish club, has a minor quad injury and will be further assessed this week before a decision is made on his availability.
Jimmy O'Brien (calf) will also be further assessed this week.
Meanwhile, Ethan McIlroy suffered an ankle injury for Ulster in their recent interpro clash with Connacht and is the latest player to be ruled out of the URC clash at the Dragons on Sunday.
Ulster say that Rob Herring is still recovering from the calf injury that has kept him out of Ireland's plans for the first two rounds of the Six Nations, but the IRFU issued a statement earlier today confirming that the hooker will be joining an Ireland mini-camp at Abbotstown on Thursday.
Also missing for the time being are John Cooney (calf), Luke Marshall (knee) and Will Addison (lower leg), while Jacob Stockdale (ankle) is out for the remainder of the season.
Cormac Izuchukwu (knee), Jordi Murphy (knee), Tom Stewart (toe), Matty Rea (hamstring), and Stewart Moore (knee) have all resumed full team training and are available to Dan McFarland this weekend.
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