Leinster head coach Joe Schmidt is set for a timely boost this week with his British & Irish Lions trio of Brian O'Driscoll, Rob Kearney and Luke Fitzgerald all set to return to full training.
Having ended an alarming run of three successive defeats with a 17-0 home win over Irish provincial rivals Connacht at RDS last weekend, the reigning Heineken Cup champions are now preparing for a massive push in the final two rounds in Europe.
To hold onto their title, and challenge for an unprecedented three wins in a row in world rugby's top club tournament, Schmidt's men need to pick up a maximum 10 points from their two remaining matches in Pool 5, home against the Scarlets and away in Round 6 against Exeter Chiefs.
But with Dave Kearney, Eoin O'Malley and Kevin McLaughlin also set to return to full contact training this week the champions will be virtually up to full speed as they head into 2013.
"We would be confident we would see Luke, Brian, Dave, Rob and Eoin all training fully next week and available for selection. That's a prospect that would be ideal," said Schmidt.
"Kevin McLaughlin hurt his shoulder in the warm-up at Ulster and became more uncomfortable through the first 40 minutes, but he is in good fettle and due for contact on Monday."
O'Driscoll had suggested as recently as last week that he wouldn't be ready until the last week in January, while Kearney had been thought to be a week behind in terms of medical schedule. But Schmidt expects to have both on the training field in Dublin this week and preparing for action in the PRO12 clash with Edinburgh at Murrayfield this weekend.
"They will be doing some graduated contact during the week, but both are very confident about it. Contact wasn't really the issue for them, it was more a discomfort trying to run," said Schmidt.
"We don't foresee any problems, but we're not going to take any risks either. To be honest, I'm confident about both of them and Luke as well.
"I would love to have a really good headache this week because I've had some bad headaches in recent weeks and it would be a bit of a luxury. The problem I do have is that if we do get them back for Edinburgh there is not a lot of time to knit ourselves back together when we have to chase big games, Scarlets and, then, Exeter away.
"It would have been nice to get a run in of two to three games with those guys available and challenging for spots, but it's not a perfect world unfortunately."
