Team news: Christian Cullen is in line to complete his long-awaited comeback from injury this weekend after being named in a 23-man Munster squad for the Celtic League clash in Llanelli.
The former All Black came through a Munster 'A' match unscathed last week and will seek to further prove his fitness to coach Declan Kidney at Stradey Park ahead of the Heineken Cup quarter-final against Perpignan on Saturday week.
Cullen has not featured for Munster in a competitive fixture since injuring his shoulder almost 11 months ago and his addition to the squad is a welcome boost with Barry Murphy out injured.
Kidney, who will be without Denis Leamy as he recovers from the ankle injury picked up at Twickenham, was also able to name Mike Mullins and Jeremy Manning in the travelling party and will be taking nothing for granted as his side seek to reclaim top spot in the Celtic League table.
"This is a huge game for us in terms of qualification for next season's Heineken Cup," he explained. "Results against the Scarlets in recent years just point up the enormity of the challenge we face in Stradey on Saturday."
Meanwhile, Keith Matthews lost his race to be fit in time for Connacht's Celtic League clash against Borders tomorrow night as Michael Bradley's starting line-up shows four changes to the side which narrowly lost out to Leinster earlier in the month.
Conor McPhillips returns to the wing after recovering from a groin injury which kept him out of the Leinster game while Andrew Mailei comes into the side at outside centre. The pair replace Matthews and John Hearty, who is a long term casualty after he broke his jaw during the Leinster fixture.
Other changes in personnel see David Slemen replace Paul Warwick at out-half while the injured Brendan O'Connor (ankle) is replaced by matt Lacey.
Bradley's side, who find themselves at foot of the Celtic League, take on mid table Borders at Netherdale with kick-off at 7.30pm.
Munster squad: M Horan, J Hayes, F Pucciariello, D Fogarty, J Flannery, P O'Connell, D O'Callaghan, M O'Driscoll, T Hogan, S Keogh, D Wallace, J O'Sullivan, A Foley. P Stringer, T O'Leary, R O'Gara, J Manning, T Halstead, M Mullins, I Dowling, J Kelly, C Cullen, S Payne.
Connacht: Matt Mostyn, Conor McPhillips, Andrew Mailei, Mark McHugh, Darren Yapp; David Slemen, Chris Keane; Ray Hogan, John Fogarty, Adrian Clarke, David Gannon, Andrew Farley, John Muldoon, Matt Lacey, Colm Rigney. Replacements: Joe Merrigan, Stephen Knoop, Christian Short, Michael Swift, Conor O'Loughlin, Paul Warwick, Gavin Williams.
