Munster v Scarlets: Teams

Munster boss Tony McGahan has named Barry Murphy and Alan Quinlan in his side to face the Scarlets.

With Keith Earls involved with the Ireland squad, Murphy will wear the No.13 jersey, while Quinlan replaces Peter O'Mahony in the back row.

Munster will go into the top-of-the-table clash buoyed by their win over Australia - and the Scarlets know they will face a tough encounter.

Scarlets coach Nigel Davies, who is without a number of players due to international commitments, said: "We know it's going to be a difficult place to go, they've had a massive result this week beating Australia, but this will be no bigger game than last week and we came through that against a strong London Irish side.

"They'll bring huge intensity, they fight on every inch of the field and they will look to disrupt our game. They will be hard and very physical and we will have to match them and front up, in order to be competitive in this game.

"However, that was something I was so encouraged by in our performance last week, we had a young team on the park last weekend and we out muscled a strong, experienced London Irish side.

"We've got a positive momentum at the moment and we've worked hard over the past 20 months to develop this group and build strength throughout this squad. As a result we now have a group of players who can more than ably step in when our more recognised stars are not available. That's what you have to have to be successful in the league and it's a focus for us this season."

Stephen Jones, Matthew Rees and George North are among those players missing, however Morgan Stoddart, Regan King, Rhys Priestland, Tavis Knoyle are all available.

Munster: 15 Johne Murphy, 14 Doug Howlett, 13 Barry Murphy, 12 Sam Tuitupou, 11 Denis Hurley, 10 Paul Warwick, 9 Duncan Williams, 8 James Coughlan, 7 Niall Ronan, 6 Alan Quinlan, 5 Ian Nagle, 4 Billy Holland, 3 Peter Borlase, 2 Damien Varley, 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Mike Sherry, 17 Dave Ryan, 18 Stephen Archer, 19 Peter O'Mahony, 20 Tommy O'Donnell, 21 C Murray, 22 Tom Gleeson, 23 Scott Deasy.

Scarlets: 15 Daniel Evans, 14 Morgan Stoddart, 13 Gareth Maule, 12 Regan King, 11 Lee Williams, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Martin Roberts, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Johnathan Edwards (capt), 6 Aaron Shingler, 5 Dominic Day, 4 Lou Reed, 3 Peter Edwards, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Iestyn Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Emyr Phillips, 17 Phil John, 18 Simon Gardner, 19 Damian Welch, 20 Jonny Fa'amatuainu, 21 Tavis Knoyle, 22 Dan Newton, 23 Scott Williams.