Brive v Munster: Teams

Leamy: Retains his place

Brive and Munster meet in the Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-finals at Stade Municipal on Saturday.

The Irish province head into the match holding a commanding lead in the Magners League and have just beaten arch-rivals Leinster for the first time in six games.

Brive, former Heineken Cup winners like this weekend's opponents, in contrast lie only 12th in the French Top 14, sitting uncomfortably just above the relegation zone.

Munster director of rugby Tony McGahan has made three changes to his team for the game.

Mick O'Driscoll replaces the injured Paul O'Connell in the second row while Denis Leamy, who replaced Donnacha Ryan against Leinster, retains the number six shirt.

Sam Tuitupou joins his cousin Lifeimi Mafi in the centres, with Johne Murphy relegated to the bench.

While Munster would rather be doing battle in the Heineken Cup this weekend, Donncha O'Callaghan insists that the Challenge Cup is still worth fighting for.

"No, it's not where we set out to be, no point in denying that," said O'Callaghan.

"The Heineken Cup is the most important competition for us. It's every club's goal to play in it, Brive have spoken this week about how they'd love to be in it. So we're no different."

Brive: 15 Scott Spedding, 14 Guillaume Namy, 13 Jamie Noon, 12 Fabrice Estebanez, 11 Alexis Palisson, 10 Mathieu Belie, 9 Augustin Figuerola, 8 Julien Le Devedec, 7 Antoine Claassen, 6 Gerhard Vosloo, 5 Retief Uys, 4 Thibault Dubarry, 3 Pablo Cardinali, 2 Benoit Cabello, 1 Davit Kinchagishvili.
Replacements: 16 Jean-Philippe Bonrepaux, 17 Vasil Kakovin, 18 Pat Barnard, 19 Arnaud Mela, 20 Simon Azoulai, 21 Fabien Domingo, 22 Shaun Perry, 23 Régis Lespinas.

Munster: 15 Felix Jones, 14 Doug Howlett, 13 Lifeimi Mafi, 12 Sam Tuitupou, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Conor Murray, 8 James Coughlan, 7 David Wallace, 6 Denis Leamy, 5 Mick O'Driscoll, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Tony Buckley, 2 Damien Varley, 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Mike Sherry, 17 Marcus Horan, 18 John Hayes, 19 Donnacha Ryan, 20 Niall Ronan, 21 Peter Stringer, 22 Paul Warwick, 23 Johne Murphy.