Four changes for Munster, three for Connacht and, not surprisingly, none at all for Leinster or Ulster ahead of the second outings in a week for the Irish provinces in the Heineken Cup.
Rob Penney has drafted Donnacha Ryan into the second row alongside Paul O’Connell for the visit to Perpignan this weekend, with Cathal Sheridan coming in for the injured Conor Murray at scrum-half and James Cronin and BJ Botha coming into the front row instead of David Kilcoyne and Stephen Archer.
An outbreak of flu has disrupted Connacht’s preparations ahead of their attempt to replicate their heroics in Toulouse on home ground this weekend, but Pat Lam has made just three changes to the starting line-up, bringing Jason Harris-Wright and Rodney Ah You into the front row and Eoin McKeon into the back row alongside John Muldoon and Jake Heenan.
Elsewhere, Leinster and Ulster haven’t made any changes to the sides that ruthlessly dispatched Northampton and Treviso respectively last weekend and in fairness, after performances like that, why would they?
Munster team to play Perpignan: Felix Jones; Keith Earls, Casey Laulala, James Downey, Johne Murphy; Ian Keatley, Cathal Sheridan; James Cronin, Damien Varley, BJ Botha; Donnacha Ryan, Paul O’Connell; Peter O’Mahony (Captain), Sean Dougall, James Coughlan.
Replacements: Duncan Casey, Dave Kilcoyne, Stephen Archer, Donncha O’Callaghan, Tommy O’Donnell, Duncan Williams, JJ Hanrahan, Denis Hurley
Leinster team to play Northampton: Rob Kearney; Dave Kearney, Brian O’Driscoll, Gordon D’Arcy, Luke Fitzgerald; Ian Madigan, Eoin Reddan; Jack McGrath, Sean Cronin, Mike Ross; Devin Toner, Mike McCarthy; Rhys Ruddock, Sean O’Brien, Jamie Heaslip (Captain).
Replacements: Aaron Dundon, Michael Bent, Martin Moore, Leo Cullen, Shane Jennings, John Cooney, Jimmy Gopperth, Zane Kirchner
Ulster team to play Benetton Treviso: J Payne; A Trimble, D Cave, L Marshall, C Gilroy, P Jackson, R Pienaar; T Court, R Herring, J Afoa; J Muller (Captain), D Tuohy, R Diack, S Doyle, R Wilson.
Replacements: N Annett, C Black, D Fitzpatrick, N McComb, M McComish, P Marshall, M Allen, D McIlwaine.
Connacht team to play Toulouse: Robbie Henshaw; Fionn Carr, Eoin Griffin, Dave McSharry, Matt Healy; Dan Parks, Kieran Marmion; Brett Wilkinson, Jason Harris-Wright, Rodney Ah You; Mick Kearney, Craig Clarke (captain); John Muldoon, Jake Heenan, Eoin McKeon
Replacements: Sean Henry, Denis Buckley, Nathan White, Andrew Browne, George Naoupu, Frank Murphy, Craig Ronaldson, Gavin Duffy
Heineken Cup fixtures (all live on Sky Sports)
Benetton Treviso v Ulster, Saturday, 1.35pm
Perpignan v Munster, Saturday, 3.40pm
Leinster v Northampton, Saturday, 6pm
Connacht v Toulouse, Saturday, 6pm
Don’t forget to get involved with the Heineken Star Predictor ‘Get in The Game’ where you can put your rugby knowledge to the test by predicting the outcome of this weekend’s games. The top prize is a pair of VIP tickets to the 2014 Heineken Cup Final in Cardiff and there are other prizes to be won throughout the season. Click here to start predicting.
Toulouse v Connacht, Sunday 4pm
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