Just as importantly, James Coughlan returns to the fray a week ahead of the Heineken Cup Round 3 game with Saracens following a lengthy lay off while CJ Stander makes his first start, following his debut off the bench in artic conditions last Sunday in Musgrave Park, for a game that Munster can ill afford to lose.

As things stand they lie in fifth place in the table ahead of this weekend games but by the time Doug Howlett leads them out at Thomond Park Stadium they’ll likely have slipped to sixth if Ospreys have done the expected number on the Blues a little earlier in the afternoon at the Liberty.

Munster: F Jones; D Howlett capt, K Earls, J Downey, S Zebo; R O’Gara, D Williams; D Kilcoyne, M Sherry, BJ Botha; D O’Callaghan, D Ryan; CJ Stander, T O’Donnell, J Coughlan. Replacements: D Varley, W du Preez, S Archer, B Holland, P Butler, P Stringer, I Keatley, C Laulala.