Highlanders and All Black winger Waisake Naholo is set to play against the Sunwolves in Invercargill on Saturday.
But mystery still surrounds the health of flanker Shane Christie.
Naholo, who turns 26 next month, has been out for more than a month after injuring his hamstring against the Blues at Eden Park on March 11.
He was due to play for Harbour in club rugby last Thursday but it was cancelled due to wet weather. So the Highlanders sent him back to his home province and he played 40 minutes for Taranaki club side Spotswood United on Saturday.
Naholo failed to help Spotswood United as it went down to Tukapa 32-8.
More importantly, however, Naholo got through the game fine and is all set to go for the match on Saturday.
Highlanders assistant coach Scott McLeod said Naholo would be warmly welcomed back.
''We have got his smile and energy out at training today. All the players feed off that so we want to give him plenty of ball,'' McLeod said.
Other players were starting to come back into contention for the side as the Highlanders' casualty ward declines in patients.
''There are more guys getting back into their contact training. Ash Dixon, Lima [Sopoaga], Dan Pryor, they are slowly coming back into training which is great for us.''
Dixon and Pryor were chances to play club rugby on Saturday while Sopoaga was another couple of weeks away.
McLeod said the players who had come in had given the side some extra depth which was a bonus.
''We have confidence and trust in our whole squad so it is not an automatic given that the guys who have been injured come back in, because there are so many guys who have come in who have played well and they are our leaders. Guys who are coming back have to fight for their place.''
The Sunwolves will be backing up from a 50-point hiding against the Crusaders last week and may be looking to limit the damage in Invercargill on Saturday afternoon.
But McLeod said the Highlanders were not taking anything for granted.
''They have some of the quickest ruck ball in the competition. They can move it to areas extremely quickly and put pressure in behind.
''They have a number of Kiwi boys who are extremely motivated. They have had to go overseas to find their Super Rugby in another country so they will be out to prove ... they will be quite a threat.''
The side would be excited to play against ex-Highlander Fumiaki Tanaka who was bound to school his new side up on tactics favoured by the former team.
McLeod said there was no update on the health of openside flanker Shane Christie.
There was no timeline on when a decision would be made on Christie and his availability for the rest of the season.
Christie, who has a mystery illness, has barely been sighted at training all season and has not played a game of any form this season.
He suffered a nasty knock in a match late in the Highlanders season last year but went on to play a full season for Tasman. He was then a member of the New Zealand Maori side which went on an end-of-year tour.