Edinburgh v Munster: Teams

Chris Paterson will start his first game of his second spell at Edinburgh on Friday when he and his team-mates kick-off their Magners League campaign against Munster at Murrayfield.

After failing to stamp down a regular place at Gloucester last season, Paterson returned to Scotland in the off-season and will start on the right wing on Friday. In doing so Paterson will play in his 150th game for Edinburgh.

Head coach Andy Robinson believes anything less than a victory will render their fine pre-season wins over Wasps and Bath meaningless.

"It is important on the back of all our pre-season work that we win at the weekend," Robinson said.

"A loss this weekend would make the pre-season friendly results pointless. So it is important that the guys who do have the experience and the talent really deliver.

"We are now facing our biggest test of the year so far because we are facing Munster.

"We didn't beat them last year and they play a tough brand of rugby. We need to be able to cope with the way they play as well as imposing our gameplan on them."

Important

Injuries have forced Robinson into making a few changes, although he does welcome back Ben Gissing, who missed the win over Bath in order to attend the birth of his first child.

Meanwhile, Scotland international Matt Mustchin switches from second row to blindside flanker in the hope that his line-out skills and size will benefit the pack.

"The reason why we have decided to put Matt in the back row is to do with being able to deal with the new line-outs," Robinson added.

"We are looking to counter the threat that Munster have at the set-piece and it was important that we fielded our biggest pack."

Munster have named a side which features no less than seven Irish internationals, as well as former All Black Doug Howlett.

The front five is an all Irish affair, with Donncha O'Callaghan and Paul O'Connell resuming their formidable partnership in the second row.

Peter Stringer will have to settle for a place on the bench as Tomas O'Leary gets the nod to start at half-back with Ronan O'Gara.

Edinburgh: 15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Chris Paterson, 13 Calum MacRae, 12 Nick De Luca, 11 Simon Webster, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Mike Blair (c), 8 Allister Hogg, 7 Alan MacDonald, 6 Matt Mustchin, 5 Ben Gissing, 4 Craig Hamilton, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.

Replacements: 16 Andrew Kelly, 17 Gavin Kerr, 18 Scott Newlands, 19 David Callam, 20 Greig Laidlaw, 21 Mark Robertson, 22 Andrew Turnbull.

Munster: 15 Doug Howlett, 14 Keith Earls, 13 Lifeimi Mafi, 12 Rua Tipoki, 11 Ian Dowling, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Tomas O'Leary, 8 David Wallace, 7 John O'Sullivan, 6 Donnacha Ryan, 5 Paul O'Connell (c), 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Jerry Flannery, 1 Marcus Horan.

Replacements: 16 Frankie Sheahan, 17 Frederico Pucciariello, 18 Mick O'Driscoll, 19 Justin Melck, 20 Peter Stringer, 21 Paul Warwick, 22 Barry Murphy.