Henry and Henderson return to Ulster action

Ireland internationals Chris Henry and Iain Henderson have both recovered from injury and are named in the Ulster starting XV to take on Munster in Friday's Pro12 clash at Ravenhill (7.05pm).

Henderson will start in the secondrow with Louis Stevenson moving to the bench, while Henry takes over at openside from Sean Doyle, who is also named amongst the replacements.

They are two of six changes to the team that lost to Leinster in the RDS, with the other changes in the pack seeing Tom Court and John Afoa named either side of Rob Herring in the frontrow.

The two changes behind the scrum see Jared Payne take over from Ricky Andrew at fullback, while Ruan Pienaar takes over from Paul Marshall at scrumhalf.

Backrow forward Nick Williams has recovered from the calf injury that he picked up in November and is named as a substitute, but Johann Muller was unavailable for selection having sustained a leg injury in training this week.

Munster coach Rob Penney continues his extensive player rotation policy with 12 changes from the 22-16 victory over Connacht at Thomond Park last weekend.

Left wing Ronan O'Mahony is the only back to remain in the starting XV, with secondrow Donncha O'Callaghan and number eight James Coughlan the survivors in the pack.

Paul O’Connell and skipper Peter O’Mahony return to the side for the first time since the Heineken Cup victory away to Perpignan on December 14th, with Tommy O’Donnell also named in the backrow.

There's also a new frontrow of David Kilcoyne, Damien Varley and Stephen Archer for the game.

Felix Jones is named at fullback, while Andrew Conway replaces Keith Earls on the right wing, with the Ireland international sitting the game out with a bruised shoulder.

Casey Laulala and Ivan Dineen have been named in midfield, while outhalf Ian Keatley comes in for JJ Hanrahan, who has a tight groin. He will be joined by Cathal Sheridan in a new halfback combination.

Prop James Cronin received the all clear from the scan of his lower back but will not be involved this weekend.

ULSTER (v Munster, Friday, Ravenhill, 7.05pm): J Payne; A Trimble, D Cave, L Marshall, C Gilroy; P Jackson, R Pienaar; T Court, R Herring, J Afoa; I Henderson, D Tuohy; R Diack (captain), C Henry, R Wilson. Replacements: N Annett, C Black, D Fitzpatrick, L Stevenson, N Williams, S Doyle, P Marshall, M Allen.

MUNSTER: F Jones; A Conway, C Laulala, I Dineen, R O'Mahony; I Keatley, C Sheridan; D Kilcoyne, D Varley, S Archer; Donncha O'Callaghan, P O'Connell; Peter O'Mahony (capt), T O'Donnell, J Coughlan. Replacements: D Casey, J Ryan, BJ Botha, D Foley, CJ Stander, D Williams, J Holland, J Murphy.