Leamy Leads Munster

Denis Leamy will captain a Munster side that sees Paul O’Connell listed among the replacements for Saturday’s Magners League clash with Cardiff Blues at Thomond Park Stadium

Leamy is joined on the starting XV by fellow November internationals Keith Earls, Ronan O'Gara, Damien Varley, Tony Buckley, Mick O'Driscoll and Peter Stringer who gets the nod over Tomas O'Leary.

Pitch conditions in Thomond Park remain a concern given the weather conditions but officials there are still confident that the game will go ahead as planned with the earlier 5pm kick off.

The Blues who  travel to Thomond Park having won six of their last seven away games in the Magners League welcome back five international players to the starting XV.

In the backs, Dan Parks and Richie Rees return from international duty as does centre Tom Shanklin. There's one positional change,  Chris Czekaj moving from wing to full-back with Gavin Evans wearing the 11 shirt.

Up front, Sam Warburton and Gethin Jenkins return from Welsh duty to be joined by Gareth Williams, who starts his first Magners League match of the season.

Munster: J Murphy; L Mafi, K Earls, S Tuitipou, D Hurley; R O'Gara, P Stringer; W du Preez, D Varley, T Buckley; M O'Driscoll, D O'Callaghan; A Quinlan, N Ronan, D Leamy captain. Replacements: M Sherry, D Ryan, J Hayes, P O’Connell, D Wallace, T O’Leary, P Warwick, B Murphy.

Cardiff Blues: Chris Czekaj;  Richard Mustoe, Casey Laulala, Tom Shanklin, Gavin Evans; Dan Parks, Richie Rees;  Xavier Rush, Sam Warburton, Mamma Molitika; Paul Tito, Michael Paterson; Taufa'ao Filse, Gareth Williams, Gethin Jenkins. Replacements: Rhys Williams, Tom Davies, Sam Hobbs, Bryn Griffiths, Ben White, Tom Slater, Ceri Sweeney, Dafydd Hewitt.