No Surprises

There were no real surprises in the Munster line-up announced just now for the Heineken Cup clash with Edinburgh at Thomond Park Stadium on Sunday (12.45).

As expected a fit again Donncha O'Callaghan returns to partner Paul O'Connell in the second row while Mike Sherry starts on this occasion ahead of Damien Varley in the only changes up front.

The injury to Ronan O'Gara (hamstring) means the predictable first start at 10 for Ian Keatley with the ever reliable Denis Hurley back into the full-back berth that Keatley occupied at the start of the Racing Metro game last weekend.

In many ways it's very difficult to read this particular fixture. Munster face an Edinburgh side who were trounced at home in their opening game by Saracens but it would seem very naive to gauge Edinburgh's ability on that one performance. And one person who isn't is coach Rob Penney.

"They did some really good things against Saracens." he said. "If you look at that game closely you'd be remiss to disregard their display totally. Because they did some really good things."

"They got, and I know it's very un-Edinburgh like, but they got beaten up a few times at some breakdown situations and a couple of times at set-piece."

"So undoubtedly they'll be doing some work in that area."

" And they'll come to Thomond Park, hopefully thinking they're coming in under the radar after that loss."

" But we're certainly doing as much diligent research as we've done in any other game to ensure that we're as prepared as we can be."

"And I think there's two sides hurting a bit."

" And it could be fireworks."

Munster (v Edinburgh): Denis Hurley; Doug Howlett capt, Casey Laulala, James Downey, Simon Zebo; Ian Keatley, Conor Murray; Dave Kilcoyne, Mick Sherry, BJ Botha; Donncha O'Callaghan, Paul O'Connell; Donnacha Ryan, Sean Dougall, Peter O'Mahony. Replacements: Damien Varley, Marcus Horan, Stephen Archer, Billy Holland, Paddy Butler, Duncan Williams, JJ Hanrahan, Felix Jones.

Stand and Terrace tickets are available for this game to buy online here, from the ticket offices in Thomond Park and Musgrave Park or by calling 021-4315767 or 061-421103.

Due to a return of tickets we now a limited number of Junior tickets available on public sale. Tickets are priced as follows:

Cat B Junior Stand – €;15
Terrace Junior – €;10

Saturday opening hours for the Thomond Park Ticket Office: 9am to 6pm.

The mobile ticket office will also be at the Crescent Shopping Centre on Saturday from 10am to 5pm.

Thomond Park ticket office match-day opening hours: From 9am