Munster have confirmed that Paul O’Connell will start Saturday’s Heineken Cup opener against Racing Metro.
The former captain is set to make his first appearance of the season, after showing no ill-effects from a full training session yesterday.
O’Connell’s return is a timely one after Donncha O’Callaghan was ruled-out with a hamstring injury, which means that he’ll be partnered by Billy Holland in the second-row.
Donnacha Ryan starts at blindside flanker instead of Dave O’Callaghan while the injury to Wian du Preez means that Dave Kilcoyne will continue at loosehead prop.
As expected, James Downey returns to the centre in the absence of Keith Earls, while there’s one other change behind the scrum, with Ian Keatley starting at full-back ahead of Denis Hurley, which means that Ronan O’Gara continues at scrum-half.