Cian Prendergast has recovered from illness and looks set to feature for Connacht against Benetton in Saturday's URC clash.
The back row was a late withdrawal from the Ireland squad to play Wales on Saturday morning, and missed out on a fifth international cap, and the chance to play alongside brother Sam in a Guinness Six Nations game.
However, the 25-year-old trained with Connacht this week and comes in to bolster the side, who lost number 8 Sean Jansen to an ankle injury picked up on Ireland A duty against England A on Sunday.
"He was back in with us yesterday and trained fully this morning so he’s available for selection, which is good news for us.
"On the back of his disappointment with the illness and missing out on his bench spot at the weekend, he’s champing at the bit.
"He’s determined at the best of times, but I think channelling that disappointment hopefully into a big performance for us."
Connacht also confirmed that scrum-half Ben Murphy (above) underwent finger surgery this morning after suffering a "nasty" injury in Ireland A training.
"His little finger got caught in contact and it was a nasty break," he said.
"He’s had surgery on it this morning and the update is that was successful but I think it was a bit of a complicated one to fix up, so I imagine we won’t see him for the next five or six weeks."
Centre Byron Ralston suffered a knee injury in the friendly defeat to Harlequins last weekend.
"Byron could be longer term, we’re waiting for the scan in the next 48 hours, he’s hobbling around on crutches and definitely won’t be involved for a period," added Wilkins.
Prop Jack Aungier is also back with the province and is to likely feature after playing 56 minutes in Bristol for the A team, while Hugh Gavin, Shayne Bolton and Darragh Murray are all available after coming through the defeat unscathed.
Eoin de Buitlear (thumb) has successfully undergone surgery and will be unavailable until April, while there was no update on Sean O’Brien (hamstring).
Meanwhile, the Westerners hope to have more clarity about their out-half situation in the next couple of weeks following the news that JJ Hanrahan (above) will move back to Munster next season.
Josh Ioane is on a one-year deal and Jack Carty's current contract is up at the end of the season.
"It really depends what happens with our current stable," said Wilkins when asked about plan to extend contracts or bring in new players.
"We’ve got the three senior 10s there with Josh Ioane, JJ and Jack.
"We’re working through things with Josh and Jack and we’ll see where we get there and whether there’s a need to go outside or not.
"We’ve got the clarity on the JJ situation.
"We would have loved him to stay but he’s made a decision that he feels is right for his family at this stage and we respect that and we’ll work through the rest of it in the next couple of weeks."
Connacht have lost their last three in a row, all away, to Benetton but can move from 11th into the top eight if they win with a bonus point against the seventh-place Italian side at the Dexcom Stadium on Saturday (7.35pm)
"There’s a pressure because we’re left ourselves with this work to do at this stage of the season but there’s also a massive opportunity," said Wilkins, whose side's win over Cardiff in the last round was just their fourth in the URC.
"If we do manage to take the maximum from this game then we put ourselves in a position, all of a sudden, going into the run-in, we’re in the top eight in the URC and top seeds in the Challenge Cup and the whole narrative around the team changes very quickly.
"But equally we’ve got to do the business, there’s a lot at stake."
