The home side will be boosted by the return of Luke Charteris who makes his first appearance of the season in a Dragons shirt and he'll pack down with the experienced Rob Sidoli but by the same token they have Lewis Robling starting at ou-half for the first season.

Luke O'Dea comes into the Munster starting XV in place of Simon Zebo and the 21 year will prove more than adequate having shown in his four outings to date that he has a nose for the tryline, his two tries coming against Edinburgh and Ulster.

Save Tokula makes his debut in the centre, 23 year old Dave Foley partners O'Driscoll in the second row and James Coughlan, superb all season, has youngsters Dave O'Callaghan and Tommy O'Donnell either side of him in the back row. 

The last five fixtures between the two teams have all been won by the home side on the day, whilst Munster have not won at Rodney Parade since the 7th of March 2009

And if that bald stat doesn't provide incentive enough for Tony McGahan's side then there'll surely be the desire to mark the occasion of skipper Mike O'Driscoll 200th cap in the best possible fashion.

And with the way results went last night a win for Munster will send them into clear second place in the table.

Munster: Felix Jones; Luke O'Dea, Save Tokula, Lifeimi Mafi, Johne Murphy; Ian Keatley, Tomas O'Leary; Marcus Horan, Denis Fogarty, Stephen Archer; Dave Foley, Mick O'Driscoll capt; Dave O'Callaghan, Tommy O'Donnell, James Coughlan. Replacements: Mike Sherry, Wian du Preez, BJ Botha, Billy Holland, Paddy Butler, Duncan Williams, Scott Deasy, Denis Hurley.

Newport Gwent Dragons: Will Harries; Tonderai Chavhanga, Andy Tuilagi, Ashley Smith capt, Aled Brew; Lewis Robling, Wayne Evans; Nathan Williams, Steve Jones, Nathan Buck; Luke Charteris, Rob Sidoli; Jevon Groves, Lewis Evans, Tom Brown. Replacements: Sam Parry, Phil Price, Dan Way, Hugo Ellis, Darren Waters, Jonathan Evans, Jack Dixon, Steffan Jones