In the absence of squad captain Paul O’Connell, Munster will be skippered by Ronan O’Gara when they resume their Magners League campaign against the Scarlets in Llanelli on Friday evening.
O’Gara is one of seven players involved with Ireland last weekend who have been included for Munster’s first trip to the Scarlets’ new home ground, Parc y Scarlets, in the Pemberton area of Llanelli.
Also included in the squad is Denis Leamy who has just agreed a new contract which will keep him with Munster until after the next World Cup.
The back rower played his first competitive game of the season for Munster against the All Blacks last Tuesday but suffered injury at the end of the opening quarter and had to be replaceed.
Leamy said: “It was just a bit of a knock and they (management) took me off as a precaution more than anything else. Thankfully I’ve fully recovered and I’m looking forward to getting back into the swing of things.
“It’s been a good week for me with the contract terms agreed and I’m delighted with the way the IRFU dealt with that.
“Now the opportunity is there to get myself back into the side with important games coming up, starting with this one on Friday.”
Joining Leamy in the province’s pack are his international colleagues from last weekend, Marcus Horan, Tony Buckley, Donnacha Ryan and Donncha O’Callaghan.
MUNSTER (v Scarlets): Paul Warwick; Doug Howlett, Keith Earls, Lifeimi Mafi, Ian Dowling; Ronan O’Gara (capt), Tomas O’Leary; Marcus Horan, Frankie Sheahan, Tony Buckley, Donncha O’Callaghan, Mick O’Driscoll, Donnacha Ryan, Niall Ronan, Denis Leamy.
Replacements: Denis Fogarty, Federico Pucciariello, James Coughlan, John O’Sullivan, Peter Stringer, Barry Murphy, Anthony Horgan.
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