Lock Dan Tuohy is expected to be included in Wednesday’s provisional squad ahead of the big RaboDirect PRO12 clash when leaders Ulster face second placed Scarlets at Ravenhill on Friday night.
The towering second row has been sidelined with injury since the 10-9 home loss to Northampton Saints.
He suffered a torn calf muscle and was due to make his return in the next week or two.
With Lewis Stevenson returning from injury last week it does give Ulster some options in the second row as things had looked a little sparse ever since skipper Johann Muller was injured in October.
He may miss this month’s games, including the two crucial Heineken Cup games against Glasgow Warriors (January 11) and Castres (January 19).
Tuohy’s return would leave the blindside position open to Iain Henderson, who has had to fill in at second row.
The young Irish international has played blindside for Ulster and Ireland this season in the absence of Stephen Ferris and it would seem like his preferred position.
With Ulster likely to have all their front line players - bar those on the injury list - available it will leave some headaches in selection for head coach, Mark Anscombe.
And a number of the players who stepped in last week during the rest period for the front men also put their hands up in the 24-10 loss to Munster in the PRO12.
It would be expected Ulster would look to play close to their side for the Heineken Cup pool four game against Glasgow at Ravenhill.
Ali Birch, Ricky Lutton, Michael Heaney and Chris Cochrane really showed a hunger for more game time at the top level and one or two could find themselves involved in some way this weekend, if even off the bench, against Scarlets.
Ulster remain nine points clear at the top of the PRO from the Welsh side in spite of the loss to Munster in Limerick last Saturday.
But with the Scarlets coming to Ravenhill on Friday, the New Zealander is desperate for his side to learn from their recent mistakes when they take on the Welsh region.
Anscombe said he was pleased with the way his side had finished against Musnter.
“They didn’t allow them to score for about the last 25 minutes and apart from a couple of pockets of five to 10 minutes in each half I thought the boys battled well.
“You’ve got to keep possession if you’re going to have a chance and we didn’t do that.
“But we just didn’t look after the ball in the contact areas very well and they didn’t allow us to build pressure.
“If you can’t build pressure, you can’t score points. We just didn’t look after possession.
“Hopefully they’ll be wiser and better for it and it will benefit them in the season ahead.
“We move on to the next fixture, which is Scarlets at home in the league and then the mind will focus on Europe and two massively crucial games for us.”
Scarlets only victory in their last five matches in all competitions was 9-6 at Cardiff Blues on December 21. The only side who have a better away record than Scarlets in the PRO 12 this season are Ulster themselves.
Ulster have won four of their last five encounters with Scarlets, whilst the Welshmen have not triumphed at Ravenhill since 5 September 2008.
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