Munster coach Anthony Foley has made eight changes from the side that beat Leinster at the Aviva stadium for romorrow night's (7.35) Guinness Pro12 clash with the Scarlets at Thomond Park.
Peter O’Mahony returns to lead a side that includes an all new front row , Dave Kilcoyne, BJ Botha and Kevin O’Byrne, the latter, the 23-year-old UL Bohemian hooker who makes his second Pro 12 start.
Dave Foley retains his position in the secondrow this time alongside Billy Holland who comes in to make his fourth league start of the season.
Following a 16 minute cameo from the bench against Leinster, O’Mahony returns to the starting line-up and at blindside flanker while Tommy O’Donnell remains at openside with CJ Stander switching to 8.
In the halfbacks, man of the match against Leinster, Conor Murray, links up with JJ Hanrahan who is making his first start of the season at 10.
Ivan Dineen and Andrew Smith form the centre partnership while Gerhard van den Heever comes in to join Simon Zebo and Felix Jones in the back three.
The replacements see the inclusion of Argentinian hooker Eusebio Guinazu for his first time in a Pro 12 squad.
Scarlets coach Wayne Pivac has made four changes to the starting team from last weekend’s derby clash.
Aled Davies comes in for the injured Gareth Davies whilst Phil John, Kirby Myhill and Rhodri Jones replace last weekend's front row of Rob Evans, Emyr Phillips and Samson Lee who all move to the replacements bench.
Pivac said: “We’re improving bit by bit and the pieces of the puzzle are falling into place. At this time of year we want to be making good improvements. Getting four points from last weekend’s game was what we needed to get, it would have been nice to get five but we’ll take the four.
“If we look at Munster from the loss at home against Edinburgh to where they are now – they’ve made improvements all the way through. The energy levels and physicality they brought to the Leinster game over 80 minutes was impressive. They’ll test us defensively and there’s no doubt it’ll be a physical encounter.”
Munster: Felix Jones; Gerhard van den Heever, Andrew Smith, Ivan Dineen, Simon Zebo; JJ Hanrahan, Conor Murray; Dave Kilcoyne, Kevin O'Byrne, BJ Botha; Dave Foley, Billy Holland; Peter O'Mahony (capt), Tommy O'Donnell, CJ Stander. Replacements: Eusebio Guinazu, James Cronin, Stephen Archer, Donncha O'Callaghan, Robin Copeland, Duncan Williams, Ian Keatley, Johne Murphy.
Scarlets: Liam Williams; Harry Robinson, Gareth Owen, Scott Williams (capt), Kristian Phillips; Rhys Priestland, Aled Davies; Phil John, Kirby Myhill, Rhodri Jones; Jake Ball, Johan Snyman; Aaron Shingler, John Barclay, Rory Pitman. Replacements: Emyr Phillips, Rob Evans, Samson Lee, George Earle, James Davies, Rhodri Williams, Steven Shingler, Michael Tagicakibau.
