Cardiff Blues v Munster: Teams

Cardiff Blues boss David Young has named his strongest possible side for the visit of Munster.

The Blues need a bonus point win to make sure of their place in the play-offs, although anything less could open the door to Edinburgh, while defeat would see Munster hold on.

The only change to the line-up that beat Wasps in the Amlin Challenge Cup comes in the pack, with Scott Andrews coming in for the injured Taufa'ao Filise.

Munster team manager Shaun Payne insists his side must raise to the challenge if they are to secure a play-off place.

Fourth placed Munster are currently in pole position for the last play-off place and Payne knows they cannot afford any slip ups.

"There is still everything to play for," said Payne. "It's a play-off situation which we quite enjoy. We're not in it yet and obviously there are a couple of permutations but we need to ensure that we perform against Cardiff.

"The lads are definitely not wishing that their season was as good as over. We're up for this competition - we couldn't stand a double disappointment.

"We need to be competing in the Magners League. The gap between the Magners League and the Heineken Cup has definitely been closing and especially with the play-off system in place this year, there is a lot of added excitement."

Mick O'Driscoll, Jerry Flannery and John Hayes will all miss the trip, however Tony Buckley, Billy Holland and Damien Varley all start.

Cardiff Blues: 15 Ben Blair, 14 Leigh Halfpenny, 13 Casey Laulala, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Chris Czekaj, 10 Ceri Sweeney, 9 Darren Allinson, 8 Xavier Rush, 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Maama Molitika, 5 Paul Tito (capt), 4 Deiniol Jones, 3 Scott Andrews, 2 T Rhys Thomas, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements: 16 Gareth Williams, 17 John Yapp, 18 Bradley Davies, 19 Sam Warburton, 20 Lloyd Williams, 21 Dai Flanagan, 22 Dafydd Hewitt.

Munster: 15 Scott Deasy, 14 Denis Hurley, 13 Keith Earls, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Lifeimi Mafi, 10 Ronan O'Gara (capt), 9 Peter Stringer, 8 David Wallace, 7 Niall Ronan, 6 Nick Williams, 5 Billy Holland, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Tony Buckley, 2 Damien Varley, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements: 16 Mike Sherry, 17 Dave Ryan, 18 Alan Quinlan, 19 James Coughlan, 20 Tomas O'Leary, 21 Paul Warwick, 22 Danny Barnes.