All eyes on O’Connell in new-look second-row

PAUL O’CONNELL makes his long awaited return when he leads Munster against Connacht in the Celtic League at Thomond Park this evening, kick-off 7.35pm.

O'Connell has been out of action since injuring his hand in the game against Llanelli in the Celtic League in late September but has been doing full contact work in training over the past couple of weeks.

He comes into a new look second-row with Trevor Hogan, as Donncha O'Callaghan moves to the blind side of the scrum and Mick O'Driscoll takes a well merited rest.

However, with a visit to the RDS and Leinster on Saturday followed by another Celtic League clash with Edinburgh on Saturday week before the all-important Heineken Cup visit to Castres on January 13, squad rotation is clearly a priority for coach Declan Kidney.

Accordingly, Federico Pucciarello takes over at loose head prop from Marcus Horan and Denis Fogarty replaces Jerry Flannery at hooker. Another change in the pack sees Stephen Keogh join O'Callaghan and Denis Leamy in the back-row with David Wallace, who suffered a back strain during Ireland's warm weather training session in Lazarote last week, ruled out although he is expected to be fit for the Leinster game.

Ronan O'Gara and Peter Stringer are replaced at half-back by Jeremy Manning and Tomas O'Leary, Anthon Pitout takes over from John Kelly on the right wing with Barry Murphy named in the centre ahead of Trevor Halsted.

Whereas Munster are currently leading the way in the Celtic League and Connacht are propping up the table, there is every likelihood of a close and competitive encounter this evening.

Connacht boosted their confidence with the recent narrow defeat of Worcester in the European Challenge Cup and are undoubtedly a better side than their league results indicate. In their most recent meeting, Munster won 44-19 at the Sportsground when Gary Connolly ran in two tries on his Munster debut.

On the last Christmas meetings of the sides, played in Athlone and the Galway Sportsground, Munster won on both occasions by a penalty goal to nil and gave a clear indication of how much a victory over Munster would mean to a Connacht side coached by Michael Bradley, for so long one of the southern province's most loyal servants. Moreover, 33-year-old prop Dan McFarland makes his 100th appearance for Connacht, so they'll be all out to mark the occasion for the former Stade Francais man.

Then there's the irritation felt by Connacht at the refusal of the Munster Branch to allow their new mascot, Eddie the Eagle, to take his requested place on the sideline.

Their website complained: "Munster have lost their Christmas spirit and are acting more in the spirit of Ebeneezer Scrooge than Santa."

So, plenty of incentive there for the western province to conjure up a famous victory.

On the Munster side, O'Connell will be all out to prove his wellbeing, well aware he has a job on his hands to reclaim his place given the outstanding contribution of the O'Driscoll-O'Callaghan axis over the past few months.

With the threequarter line coming in for considerable criticism of late, Barry Murphy will be all out to press his claims for a starting place in the centre and the same applies to Anthon Pitout on the right wing.

MUNSTER: S. Payne; A. Pitout, B. Murphy, G. Connolly, A. Horgan; J. Manning, T. O'Leary; F. Pucciarello, D. Fogarty, J. Hayes, T. Hogan, P. O'Connell, D. O'Callaghan, D. Leamy, S. Keogh. Replacements, M. Horan, J. Flannery, A. Foley, M. O'Driscoll; P. Stringer, R. O'Gara, T. Halsted/J. Kelly.

CONNACHT: from Forwards D. McFarland or R. Hogan, J. Fogarty or J. Merrigan, S. Knoop or A. Clarke, A. Gallagher or D. Gannon, A. Farley, M. Swift, M. Lacey or B. O'Connor, J. Muldoon. Backs C. Keane or T. Tierney, D. Slemen or P. Warwick, C. McPhillips, G. Williams, J. Hearty or A. Mailei, T. Robinson, M. Mostyn.

Referee:A. Rolland (Leinster).