News

Preview: Munster v Glasgow

October 03 2008

Glasgow will be without Scotland fly-half Dan Parks for their Magners League clash with Munster at Thomond Park on Saturday.

The influential fly-half has a knee injury and will be replaced in the side by Colin Gregor. Elsewhere in the backs Andrew Henderson comes in for Graeme Morrison at inside centre.

Thomond Park, freshly renovated, will be a 25,000 sell-out, and Glasgow coach Sean Lineen expects a hostile reception.

"It's always interesting to see how both sets of players and the referee react when the crowd get the noise levels up - it's going to be a full house, it's going to be unbelievably noisy, so they have got to make sure they're switched on," Lineen said.

"If Munster get some momentum they are very difficult to beat, they have quality players and they are very strong so we have to make sure we look after the ball, tackle hard and make sure we're not intimidated."

Anthony Horgan and Alan Quinlan return for Munster for the first time this season, however Tomas O'Leary is a late withdrawal with a leg injury.

O'Leary was named in the squad earlier in the week and now his place in the starting XV goes to Peter Stringer with Mike Prendergast drafted onto the bench.

Form: Munster are the only unbeaten team in the Magners League this season, as the Munstermen return to the impressive newly revamped Thomond Park Stadium for the first time in the Magners League since December 2006. Munster's only home defeat in their last eight encounters in all competitions was 18-21 to Saturday's opponents, Warriors, in Cork on 10 May. Glasgow Warriors recorded a 34-20 win at home to the Scarlets on Friday, and have won three of their last four away matches. The Warriors won twice in Ireland last season: 35-24 at Ravenhill and 21-18 at Musgrave Park. Munster's only win in their last six matches against Glasgow was 38-20 at Cork on 12 May 2007.

Prediction: With Munster at full-strength you would fancy them to take this one, and send a sold-out crowd home in fine spirits. Munster by 12.

The Teams:

Munster: 15 Keith Earls, 14 Doug Howlett, 13 Barry Murphy, 12 Rua Tipoki, 11 Anthony Horgan, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 David Wallace, 7 Justin Melck, 6 Alan Quinlan, 5 Paul O'Connell (c), 5 Donnacha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Frankie Sheahan, 1 Marcus Horan.

Replacements: 16 Denis Fogarty, 17 Tony Buckley, 18 Mick O'Driscoll, 19 Niall Ronan, 20 Mike Prendergast, 21 Paul Warwick, 22 Kieran Lewis.

Glasgow Warriors: 15 Bernardo Stortoni, 14 Lome Fa'atau, 13 Max Evans, 12 Andrew Henderson, 11 Thom Evans, 10 Colin Gregor, 9 Mark McMillan, 8 John Beattie, 7 John Barclay, 6 Kelly Brown, 5 Alastair Kellock (c), 4 Opeta Palepoi, 3 Moray Low, 2 Dougie Hall, 1 Justin Va'a.

Replacements: 17 Ed Kalman, 16 Kevin Tkachuk, 18 Tim Barker, 19 Stevie Swindall, 20 Ruaridh Jackson, 21 Graeme Morrison, 22 Hefin O'Hare.

Date: Saturday 4 October, 2008

Kick-off: 19.00 BST (18.00 GMT)

Venue: Thomond Park, Limerick

Referee: Andrew Small (England)

Touch judges: David Keane (Ireland), Richard Kerr (Ireland)

Television Match Official: Brian Fitzgerald (Ireland)