Rugby:Alan Quinlan will move to within one cap of Anthony Foley's Munster record when he leads the province out against Ospreys at Thomond Park on Saturday night (8pm).
The 36-year-old backrow will make his 200th appearance against the defending Magners League champions, with Niall Ronan at openside and captain Denis Leamy at number eight.
Scrumhalf Tomás O’Leary will make his first start of the season for the table-toppers who will look emulate their achievement of two seasons ago by winning their opening three matches en route to the title.
O’Leary will be partnered by Paul Warwick, meaning Ronan O’Gara must wait for his first start of the season, but fellow Ireland frontliners Marcus Horan, John Hayes and Donncha O’Callaghan will start for the first time this year in the pack.
Barring the replacement of Peter Stringer with O’Leary there are no changes in the backline from the side that beat Edinburgh away last weekend.
The front five, however, has been almost completely overhauled by Tony McGahan, with Wian Du Preez making way for Horan, Damien Varley replaced by Denis Fogarty and Hayes ousting Tony Buckley. All three of the outgoing frontrowers retain a place on the bench, while lock O’Callaghan joins Donnacha Ryan at the expense of Mick O’Driscoll.
Ospreys bring a potent looking backline to Limerick with Lee Byrne, Shane Williams and Ireland wing Tommy Bowe all included in the starting XV.
The Welsh side opened the defence of their title with defeat to Ulster but earned a bonus point at Ravenhill. Their comprehensive win over Benetton Treviso left them on six points, three adrift of Munster, and coach Sean Holley is keen not to let the gap widen any further.
"It's a big game for us, it always is,” said Holley today, “and the fact that it is so early in the season is irrelevant. Munster are one of only two unbeaten teams in the league even at this stage, so it's important for us that we look to stop them building up a gap on us in the first month.
"Saying that, leagues aren't won in September so lets not build it up too much, we are building week by week, slowly re-integrating our international players, and win, lose or draw this weekend, we expect to make another big step forward.
"We play Munster four times this season, so it's a bit of a mini league we'll have going over the coming months. They are a team that we have the utmost respect for and I think that's mutual. They've had a good start, there'll be a big crowd there and it'll be tough, I've no doubt about that.”
Munster (v Ospreys): F Jones; D Howlett, J Murphy, S Tuitupou, I Dowling; P Warwick, T O'Leary; M Horan, D Fogarty, J Hayes; D O'Callaghan, D Ryan; A Quinlan, N Ronan, D Leamy capt.
Replacements: D Varley,W du Preez, T Buckley, B Holland, P O'Mahony, P Stringer, R O'Gara, D Barnes.
Ospreys (v Munster): L Byrne; N Walker, T Bowe, A Bishop, S Williams; D Biggar, J Nutbrown; P James, M Davies, C Mitchell; A Wyn Jones (capt), I Evans; J Collins, M Holah, J Thomas.
Replacements: R Hibbard, D Jones, A Jones, I Gough, B Lewis, R Webb, G Owen, R Fussell.