De Villiers starts for Munster

Jean de Villiers will line out in the centre for Munster against Edinburgh in the Magners League at Musgrave Park on Friday evening (8pm).

Mick O'Driscoll leads the side showing nine changes, two positional, from that announced to tackle The Scarlets on January 10 for a match that was ultimately postponed.

Team manager Shaun Payne remarked: "They travel with a very strong looking side and I think that indicates their intentions. It's such a competitive league now, all the sides have improved over the years but perhaps particularly Edinburgh and Glasgow. Edinburgh are third in the table and I believe they'll travel with a fair degree of confidence.

"But we're looking forward to it. It'll be good to get back playing again. We have one of the best surfaces to play on at Musgrave Park and full credit to ground staff there. It should be a cracking game."

MUNSTER (v Edinburgh): D Hurley; D Howlett, L Mafi, J de Villiers, I Dowling; P Warwick, P Stringer; M Horan, D Fogarty, T Buckley; D Ryan, M O'Driscoll capt; A Quinlan, N Ronan, J Coughlan.

Replacements: M Sherry, J Brugnaut, B Holland, T O'Donnell, D Williams, S Deasy, T Gleeson.