Wallace set to wing it for Munster

Celtic League: David Wallace begins the new season where he finished off the last one - in an eye-catchingly unfamiliar right-wing role. Wallace spent the concluding few minutes of the Celtic Cup final win over Llanelli there but, while his brother Richie wore the number 14 jersey for Munster, Ireland and the Lions among others, this will be the first time in his career the youngest of the gifted siblings will do so.

Given the abundance of backrow riches at the disposal of Munster and Ireland, Wallace's career has stalled a little in the last couple of seasons and it seemed a shame his brilliant ball-carrying dynamism couldn't be accommodated better. After all, with the retirement of first Keith Wood and now Victor Costello, is there a better ball-carrying forward in Irish rugby? Notions of trying him in the backline were mooted last season in Munster but to what extent Wallace can make a credible fist of the switch at this stage of his career - he is now 29 - remains to be seen.

The player himself yesterday maintained he "was looking forward to the challenge very much. I've played there (wing) a few times, although never actually started a game in that position".

Well, he would say that, wouldn't he? To a degree, Declan Kidney's hand was forced a little as in addition to long-term casualties Christian Cullen and Mike Mullins, Anthony Horgan has been sidelined with a strained Achilles. Also missing for the first few games of the campaign are the Lions quartet of Paul O'Connell, Donncha O'Callaghan, Ronan O'Gara and John Hayes.

Kidney, in his second coming as the great redeemer, commented: "With the number of injuries we have now at the start of the season, it's important we try all our options, use various combinations and see how they work".

Once again, despite the retirement of Jim Williams, the arrival of their native son John O'Sullivan from Connacht gives Munster their usual backrow riches and Kidney has surely pulled off a unique trick by managing to accommodate six of them in his 22; with Wallace on the wing and O'Sullivan and Alan Quinlan on the bench.

Anthony Foley and Denis Leamy, who missed last week's 50-19 friendly defeat in Leicester, return to the line-up, with Foley resuming as captain in place of Stephen Keogh, who reverts to blindside flanker to accommodate Leamy.

There are competitive debuts for summer recruits Trevor Halstead, the six-times capped former Natal Sharks and Springbok centre, and Italian tighthead Federico Pucciariello - nicknamed "Fred" with typical Munster ingenuity by his new team-mates. There's also a prodigal return for Mick O'Driscoll, after his prosperous Perpignan sojourn.

Only two of the backs - Paul Burke and Rob Henderson - who started against Leicester retain their positions for this game, with Shaun Payne and Peter Stringer restored to fullback and scrumhalf respectively. So, although a line through Leicester in pre-season friendlies would actually give the Borders an edge, this is an altogether stiffer, more recognisable Munster outfit.

Munster were unbeaten at both home venues last season and have obtained bonus points in all but one of their four wins over the Borders.

Admittedly, the Scots twice came within eight points of Munster two seasons ago, and although their 11th place standing and results against Munster last season would indicate otherwise, they were a good deal more competitive last season until falling away with seven straight losses.

They appear to be stronger again this season with the return of Semo Sititi and the arrival of his fellow Samoan Opeta Palepoi, while they'll field an all-Lions halfback pairing of Chris Cusiter and Gregor Townsend.

Nonetheless, they have never won away from home in four years' of trying in the Celtic League, and it is surely unthinkable that they would break that run at, of all places, the Limerick citadel.

MUNSTER: S Payne; D Wallace, T Halstead, R Henderson, J Kelly; P Burke, P Stringer; M Horan, J Flannery, F Pucciariello, T Hogan, M O'Driscoll, S Keogh, D Leamy, A Foley (capt). Replacements: F Roche, F Sheahan, J O'Sullivan, A Quinlan, F Murphy, J Manning, B Murphy.

BORDER REIVERS: S Moffat; S Danielli, B MacDougall, C Hore, G Law; G Townsend, C Cusiter; P Thomson (capt), R Ford, B Douglas; O Palepoi, C Stewart; W McEntee, S Gray, K Brown. Replacements: B McKerchar, L Kibble, J Dalziel, A Miller, A Rennick, S Scott, T McGee.

Referee: Tim Hayes (WRU).

Head-to-heads: (03-04) CL: Munster 29 Borders 21; Borders 10 Munster 18; (04-05) CL: Munster 45 Borders 8; Borders 23 Munster 38. Forecast: Munster to win.

Also playing: Llanelli Scarlets v Edinburgh Gunners (7.10); Glasgow Warriors v Newport Gwent Dragons (7.30).