Captain Keogh aiming to give Cardiff the blues

STEPHEN KEOGH will lead Munster into the Celtic League battle against Cardiff Blues at the Arms Park this evening, but he’ll have to wait until today to rally all his troops.

Coach Declan Kidney has not quite decided who will partner Tomás O’Leary at half-back and Gary Connolly in the centre, or who will start at full-back. But Kidney is likely to try to field his strongest available team, conscious that his side are league leaders and that Munster have never won a competitive fixture in Cardiff.

Keogh, the former Irish U-21 skipper, gets his first run in over a month and will pack down at eight between John O’Sullivan and David Wallace.

Kidney will decide today whether to pick Paul Burke or Jeremy Manning at out-half but will most likely go for experience; he will also decide whether Trevor Halstead gets another run with Gary Connolly and whether to utilise youngster Barry Murphy.

Cardiff find themselves in a similar situation as Munster, with international commitments affecting team selection. Star scrum half Mike Philips, Rhys Thomas, Nick Robinson, Robert Sidoli and Robin Sowden-Taylor are all involved with Mike Ruddock’s Wales.

Factor out Martyn Williams, whose mother died this week, as well as Chris Czekaj and the injured Tom Shanklin and Gethin Jenkins, and the Blues are well short of full strength.

However, Kidney is well aware of the threat posed by recent signing Roger Warren, who last year set a Samoan record by kicking 24 points in a Test victory over Tonga.

Kort Schubert, the USA Eagles captain, is also back for his first start of the season and he has proved troublesome for Munster in the past, notably in last year’s match here in Cardiff.

Although Cardiff are 12 points adrift of Munster’s total, just below the middle of the table, coaching director David Young is hoping for a quick improvement.

“We see this as a huge game. While it’s nice to know that Munster won’t be at full strength, our side is weakened too so it will be a hard one to call.

“Still, you never see a weak Munster side nowadays. They have a very strong squad with experience in all areas of the pitch and the youngsters, from what I’ve been told, are coming through.

"We got bounced by Leinster in Dublin recently when both sides were fairly close to full strength and Munster gave Leinster a bit of a hiding as well. So from that point of view, we could be in for a long night, but we will have to wait and see.”

CARDIFF: R. Warren, R. Williams (captain), J. Robinson, M. Stcherbina, C. Morgan, l. Thomas, R. Powell, M. Jones, G. Williams, B. Evans, D. Jones, J. Goode, K. Schubert, M. Militika, A. Powell.

Replacements: N. Llewelyn, D. Goodfield, C. Quinnell, M. Lewis, W. Evans, T. Davies, D. Dewdney.

MUNSTER: A. N. Other, J. Kelly, G. Connolly, A. N. Other, A. Pitout, A. N. Other, T. O’Leary, F. Roche, J. Flannery, F. Pucciariello, T. Hogan, M. O’Driscoll, J. O’Sullivan, S. Keogh (captain), D. Wallace.

Replacements (from): T Buckley, E McGovern, D Fogarty, S O’Connor, F Cogan, J O’Connor, M Prendergast, P Burke, J Manning, T Halstead, B Murphy, S Payne, M Lawlor.