Munster face Connacht with one eye on Toulon test

Plenty of eyes will be on this one, not just the anticipated near full house for Connacht's first home game since March 1st as all the other teams in play-off contention will be hoping Connacht do them a favour as well as themselves.

Munster have the added distraction of being the only Pro12 team still competing in Europe, with next week's daunting trek to Marseilles to face Toulon (further strengthened by the try-scoring return of Bryan Habana last week) to factor in.

Interested
Speaking after Ulster's win over Connacht, one of tonight's interested observers, Mark Anscombe, ventured: "I know what we were going to do if we had won last week, so it'll be interesting to see what Munster do."

The accompanying wry laugh suggested his selection would have prioritised the Heineken Cup.

Rob Penney changes half his pack, with the return of Paul O’Connell alongside his old mucker Donncha O’Callaghan a dual statement of intent.

Dave Kilcoyne and Damien Varley return to the frontrow, with John Ryan switching to tighthead, while Paddy Butler replaces James Coughlan in the backrow.

Duncan Williams and Ian Keatley form a new half-back combination, while Denis Hurley, Johne Murphy and Andrew Conway all join James Downey and Gerhard van den Heever in the backline.

Encouragingly, BJ Botha, who limped off last weekend with a mild ankle injury, is named on the bench, where Conor Murray covers outhalf, with Munster confirming JJ Hanrahan sustained “a moderate groin tear” which is being monitored daily.

“Connacht down in Galway are an awkward proposition,” said Anscombe, “I know Pat Lam pretty well and I know he’ll be hurting, and so those boys are going to be up for this. So how do Munster approach that? It’s going to be interesting.”

Lam has made seven personnel and two positional changes. Willie Faloon returns from a seven-month absence which was delayed for a week due to a hamstring injury picked up late last week. Galway-born prop Ronan Loughney and lock Andrew Browne are promoted from the bench.

Scrumhalf Kieran Marmion is the the only player lining out in the same position as last week.

Darragh Leader has also been promoted from the bench after an impressive try-scoring performance as a replacement last week, and as he starts at fullback, Robbie Henshaw is given a welcome chance to start his run in the race to assume the Irish number 13 jersey.

Return
Wingers Matt Healy and Danie Poolman return in place of Fionn Carr and Tiernan O'Halloran, who sustained a quad tear in training mid-week.

Miah Nikora is handed the reins at outhalf and completes an all-Irish qualified starting team.

With three hookers unavailable due to injury, Limerick-born 19-year-old sub-Academy hooker Jack Dinneen is named on the bench. Another potential debutant is 21-year-old on-loan flanker Conor Gilsenan.

As usual the odds are stacked against Connacht, whose last victory over Munster was in Galway in December 2008.
CONNACHT : D Leader; D Poolman, R Henshaw, E Griffin, M Healy; M Nikora, K Marmion; R Loughney, J Harris-Wright, R Ah You, M Kearney, A Browne, J Muldoon (capt), W Faloon, E McKeon. Replacements: J Dinneen, D Buckley, F Bealham, A Muldowney, C Gilsenan, F Murphy, D Parks, D McSharry.
MUNSTER : D Hurley; G van den Heever, J Murphy, J Downey, A Conway; I Keatley, Duncan Williams; D Kilcoyne, D Varley (capt), J Ryan, D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell, CJ Stander, S Dougall, P Butler. Replacements : Q MacDonald, A Cotter, BJ Botha, B Holland, T O'Donnell, G Hurley, Conor Murray, R O'Mahony. Replacements : Q MacDonald, A Cotter, BJ Botha, B Holland, T O'Donnell, G Hurley, C Murray, R O'Mahony.
Referee : Marius Mitrea (FIR)
Forecast : Munster to win.