One change to McGahan’s provisional squad - O'Callaghan out

Tony McGahan has announced an almost identical extended squad to face Leinster in Friday’s RaboDirect PRO 12 meeting in Dublin (8pm) as that which was named ahead of the Aironi clash.

The only difference in the 31-man squad is the absence of back row option Dave O’Callaghan who is ruled out of contention with a slight knee injury which is set to keep him sidelined for a few weeks.

With Munster’s squad nearing the full compliment, Paul O’Connell knows the importance of Friday’s derby encounter ahead of the Heineken Cup.

"It's going to be a really tough game for us and it'll really let us know where we are,” O’Connell said.

“We're going to be tested in every way. I mean obviously our scrum, Cian (Healy) and Mike Ross had a great World Cup.

“Our scrum is going to be tested. Our lineout. Fitness, physicality. They play a good pressure game as well.

"There's going to be a massive crowd there. Big heaving atmosphere. So for us it's going to be a great test and it will really let us know where we are and what we have to work on going into the two big weeks involving Northampton Saints & Castres."

Munster Squad: M Horan, W du Preez, J Hayes, BJ Botha, S Archer, D Varley, D Fogarty, M O'Driscoll, D Ryan, D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell, B Holland, D Leamy, N Ronan, P O'Mahony, T O'Donnell, J Coughlan, T O'Leary, C Murray, D Williams, P Stringer, I Keatley, R O'Gara, K Earls, D Barnes, L Mafi, W Chambers, D Howlett, D Hurley, J Murphy, S Deasy,