Rugby:Tomás O'Leary will get an early opportunity to show Declan Kidney and the Irish management team what they could be missing during the Six Nations when Munster finish their Heineken Cup campaign tomorrow.

While the match against London Irish is essentially a dead rubber, with qualification for the Challenge Cup the only thing at stake from the two-time champions, O’Leary will be desperate to make an impact.

Omitted from the Ireland panel during the week after losing his place for Munster, the scrumhalf could still play his way into the reckoning between now and February 5th. That starts tomorrow afternoon, after O’Leary was named in a much-changed team by coach Tony McGahan.

Donncha O’Callaghan, who’s yellow card cost Munster dear in Toulon last weekend, has paid the price for his indiscipline while James Coughlan also loses out in the pack. Behind the scrum, with injuries to Paul Warwick and Sam Tuitupou, McGahan has brought Lifeimi Mafi and Denis Hurley into his starting line-up.

And after excelling in the British & Irish Cup, Hurley is keen to lift the sense of disappointment that is hanging over Thomond Park.

"Of course I understand the supporter's disappointment,” Hurley said today. “We feel it just as keenly. People went to extraordinary lengths and huge expense in difficult times to support us last weekend. And you like to repay that sort of loyalty. But I think we still can.

"I'd like to see last Sunday's game, not as the ending that some people might, but as a starting point for us for the rest of the season. There's a huge game ahead of us on Saturday. There's our goal, set out at the start, to win our home games. There's our record here in Thomond Park and the possibility of a place in the Amlin Challenge Cup.”

Munster:J Murphy; D Howlett, K Earls, L Mafi, D Hurley; R O'Gara, T O'Leary; W du Preez, D Varley, J Hayes; M O'Driscoll, P O'Connell; D Wallace, N Ronan, D Leamy capt. Replacements:M Sherry, D Hurley, T Buckley, D O'Callaghan, J Coughlan, P Stringer, S Deasy, T Gleeson.