Munster v Leinster:Put these two on a cabbage patch fighting over a paper bag in front of two men and a dog and there'd probably be skin and hair flying. Not that Munster and Leinster could ever attract a smattering of spectators ever again. Each meeting in the last seven or eight years has mattered, all the more so when the front liners have been allowed go head-to-head and, almost as an aside, tonight's winners will assume leadership of the Magners Celtic League until Christmas.

Personal rivalries, as ever, decorate the occasion. The Final Trial having been a victim of the professional era, no game has come closer to replacing it, although the irony is that Irish coach Eddie O'Sullivan will be otherwise engaged with the Barbarians.

Each having utilised last week's game to rotate their squad, both are back to as near full-strength as they can be. With Brian Carney (knee) having joined Paul O'Connell and the desperately unlucky Alan Quinlan as hors de combat, Kieran Lewis will face his erstwhile teammates on the wing, his six previous games having been at outside centre.

As expected Shaun Payne returns to the exclusion of Denis Hurley, as do the Marcus Horan, Jerry Flannery, John Hayes front row, Donncha O'Callaghan in the second-row and David Wallace and Denis Leamy in the backrow. However, Quinlan's injury does afford Declan Kidney the opportunity to move Donnacha Ryan from lock to blindside, with Anthony Foley reverting to the bench.

Similarly, Gordon D'Arcy, Stephen Keogh, Shane Jennings, Malcolm O'Kelly, Bernard Jackman and Ollie le Roux return to the Leinster team after missing last week's win away to the Ospreys, allowing Felipe Contepomi to revert to outhalf, with Keith Gleeson among those to miss out.

With Munster featuring six of the first-choice Irish pack as well as the halves (compared to Leinster's trio of incumbent Irish threequarters) opportunity knocks louder, all the more so given the setting, for the likes of Jackman (in bristling form and seemingly benefiting from Leo Cullen's line-out organisation skills), Cullen himself, Jennings and Jamie Heaslip, and the rejuvenated Mick O'Driscoll too.

Ironically, there will be no sharper edge to a head-to-head than at outhalf, where Felipe Contepomi will step into the eye of the storm again. The Pumas' typically frank comments over the years are sure to give the Munster fans their hate figure, for they love a cause, and undoubtedly drawing on the memory of the 33-9 win here in 2005 and the Heineken European Cup semi-final win which followed that season, the more vocal Munster players will assuredly seek to distract the exciting if excitable Contepomi again.

A sell-out for weeks (it could probably fill the 25,000 capacity in waiting at Thomond Park), no Munster player will have been allowed forget how much tonight's game means to the home supporters and on such nights the men in red usually rise to the occasion.

Although their pack holds down the majority of Irish places, and ditto the halves, looked at collectively you wouldn't necessarily say there's a huge difference between the sides. Munster, entering a third successive home game, look in the better form, whereas Leinster are away for the third game running. Yet the formguides are almost identical, as are their league records, even down to scoring the same number of tries (16).

Munster have marginally the better defensive record, but for all the potency of the new Lifeimi Mafi-Rua Tipoki midfield, they have shown a tendency to shoot and miss tackles.

If Leinster secure quick ball, then the Contepomi-D'Arcy-Brian O'Driscoll axis has the lines of running and footwork to test them like no other pairing thus far.

Leinster would also appear to have a stronger pack and a better tactical mix to stand up to the Munster firepower up front, all the more so given the absence of O'Connell and now Quinlan. Be that as it may, on a damp if frenzied night in Cork, you'd imagine that the Munster pack will again have the capacity to up the intensity at critical moments, especially when they have a whiff of the Leinster line in their nostrils and that O'Gara, on one of the home patches he knows so well, is the likelier goalkicker/decision maker/playmaker to execute coolly under pressure.

Ultimately history has taught us that it simply means too much for Munster to lose these matches in front of their own supporters. They haven't lost at home to Leinster since a scarcely attended interprovincial at Dooradoyle in August '98, and Leinster have drawn one and lost six of their subsequent seven competitive visits to Musgrave Park.

Nonetheless, it will be almost disappointing and surprising if it pans out into the bloodless coup of their last two treks to Munster territory.

Tonight's game might well tell us more about Leinster than Munster.

MUNSTER: S Payne; K Lewis, R Tipoki, L Mafi, I Dowling; R O'Gara (capt), P Stringer; M Horan, J Flannery, J Hayes, D O'Callaghan, M O'Driscoll, D Ryan, D Wallace, D Leamy.

Replacements: F Sheahan, T Buckley, A Foley, N Ronan, G Hurley, P Warwick, B Murphy.

LEINSTER: R Kearney; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, capt, G D'Arcy, L Fitzgerald; F Contepomi, C Willis; O le Roux, B Jackman, S Wright, L Cullen, M O'Kelly, S Keogh, S Jennings, J Heaslip.

Replacements: B Blaney, C Healy, C Jowitt, K Gleeson, C Keane, J Sexton, G Brown.

Referee: Wayne Barnes (England).

Verdict: Munster to win.

Formguide (all comp): Munster: W W L L D W L W W. Leinster: W W L L D W W L W.

Leading points scorers (all comp): Munster: Paul Warwick 60, Ronan O'Gara 38. Leinster: Jonathan Sexton 59, Felipe Contepomi 39.

Leading try scorers (all comp): Munster _ Rua Tipoki 3, Shaun Payne, Warwick, Brian Carney 2 each.

Betting (Paddy Powers): 2/5 Munster, 22/1 Draw, 7/4 Leinster. Handicap odds (= Leinster +5pts) 10/11 Munster, 20/1 Draw, 10/11 Leinster.

Celtic League Standings

P W D L F A B Pts Cardiff 7 5 0 2 162 124 3 23

Llanelli 7 4 0 3 188 134 4 20

Munster 7 4 1 2 147 113 2 20

Leinster 7 4 1 2 164 144 2 20

Glasgow 7 4 1 2 129 123 0 18

Ospreys 7 2 1 4 125 113 4 14

Edinburgh 7 2 2 3 115 115 2 14

Dragons 7 3 0 4 135 180 0 12

Ulster 7 2 1 4 98 157 0 10

Connacht 7 1 1 5 100 160 1 7