Munster name Paul O’Connell in starting XV to play Dragons

Ireland captain Paul O'Connell will start just his second RaboDirect Pro12 game of the season after being named in the secondrow for Friday night's trip to play the Dragons at Rodney Parade (7.15).

O’Connell is named alongside Donncha O’Callaghan at lock in a side that sees South African winger Gerhard van den Heever make his debut on the right.

After missing the autumn internationals through injury, Keith Earls returns to action and is partnered by James Downey, who has also been sidelined lately.

Ian Keatley comes back in at outhalf after also recovering from injury.

Billy Holland will captain the side from blindside flanker, with coach Rob Penney continuing his rotation policy with 12 changes to the team that beat Cardiff Blues 31-10 last week.

Try-scorer Felix Jones is the only survivor in the backs with flankers CJ Stander and Holland the only forwards to keep their places.

Connacht coach Pat Lam has made six changes to the team that lined out against Scarlets last weekend for the trip to Murrayfield to play Edinburgh on Friday (7.45pm).

Irish international Robbie Henshaw returns and starts at fullback and is joined in the back three with Connacht’s record try-scorer Fionn Carr and last week’s try scorer Matt Healy. Former Scottish international Dan Parks has been named at outhalf.

Up front, Ronan Loughney starts at loosehead in place of the injured Brett Wilkinson. Mick Kearney has been handed his first start of the season after coming off the bench in the last two Pro 12 games and joins skipper Craig Clarke in the secondrow.

Eoin McKeon returns to the side after missing three months due to injury. The backrower, who played 80 minutes for club side Buccaneers last weekend, starts at Number 8.

DRAGONS (v Munster, Rodney Parade, Friday, 7.15pm): D Evans; W Harries, P Leach, R Wardle, M Pewtner; J Tovey, R Rees; O Evans, S Parry, F Chaparro; C Hill, R Sidoli (capt); L Evans, N Cudd, N Talei. Replacements: E Dee, A Coundley, D Way, M Screech, I Jones, W Evans, S Jones, Ay Smith.

MUNSTER: F Jones; G van den Heever, K Earls, J Downey, D Hurley; I Keatley, D Williams; D Kilcoyne, M Sherry, S Archer; Donncha O'Callaghan, P O'Connell; B Holland (capt), CJ Stander, J Coughlan. Replacements: D Varley, J Cronin, BJ Botha, I Nagle, B O'Mahony, C Sheridan, JJ Hanrahan, I Dineen.

EDINBURGH (v Connacht, Murrayfield, Friday, 7.45pm): G Tonks; D Fife, N De Luca, B Atiga, J Cuthbert; H Leonard, G Laidlaw (capt); A Dickinson, A Lutui, WP Nel; O Atkins, I van der Westhuizen; C Du Preez, R Rennie, D Denton. Replacements: J Hilterbrand, W Blaauw, G Cross, S Cox, R Grant, S Hidalgo-Clyne, S Beard, T Brown.

CONNACHT: R Henshaw; F Carr, E Griffin, D McSharry, M Healy; D Parks,

K Marmion; R Loughney, S Henry, N White; M Kearney, C Clarke (capt);

A Muldowney, J Heenan, E McKeon. Replacements: J Harris-Wright, D Buckley, R Ah You, M Swift, J Muldoon, F Murphy, C Ronaldson, G Duffy.