RaboDirect PRO12

Out-half Ronan O'Gara will captain the side in the absence of the injured Paul O'Connell, as the defending league champions look to beat Leinster and close the gap on the table toppers in the RaboDirect PRO12.

The other change in personnel sees Marcus Horan preferred at loosehead prop to Wian du Preez, while there is also a positional switch with Johne Murphy moving from outside centre to the right wing.

Horan came on as a second half replacement for du Preez against Connacht last time out, and on the basis of his impressive shift retains the number 1 jersey a week before the Heineken Cup quarter-final against Ulster.

Mick O'Driscoll and Donncha O'Callaghan partner up in the second row for just the third time this season,

O'Callaghan, playing in his 101st league game while winning his 198th Munster cap on Saturday, readily admits this is one of the games that sets his pulse racing.

"Absolutely. These are the games that everyone wants to be involved in," he said after training yesterday in Cork IT. "They're what make the dark and dirty nights of winter training so worthwhile.

"And they're great occasions. There's always that bit of a bigger buzz ahead of the Leinster game.

"It'll be a massive game for us. They're the form side, a real good side and they'll have all their big boys back so we'll really have to produce something special if we're to get anything out of this."

News of injured trio O'Connell, Donnacha Ryan and Conor Murray is positive in the midst of three successive interprovincial clashes for the Munstermen.

Ryan took a limited part in training yesterday while O'Connell and Murray, both recovering from knee injuries, travelled to Dublin to see a specialist who cleared them for training next week.

Ryan would look to be on track for inclusion in the squad for the Ulster game, and the participation of O'Connell and Murray will depend on how they come through training.

MUNSTER (v Leinster): Felix Jones; Johne Murphy, Keith Earls, Lifeimi Mafi, Simon Zebo; Ronan O'Gara (capt), Tomas O'Leary; Marcus Horan, Damien Varley, BJ Botha, Donncha O'Callaghan, Mick O'Driscoll, David O'Callaghan, Peter O'Mahony, James Coughlan.

Replacements: Mike Sherry, Wian du Preez, Stephen Archer; Billy Holland, Tommy O'Donnell, Duncan Williams, Ian Keatley, Danny Barnes.

Previewing Saturday's RaboDirect PRO12 final against Leinster with Cóilín Duffy, Ulster winger Andrew Trimble said: "We really motivated for this game. People are talking about us being the best Ulster side in a few years, we had that record of 13 wins in a row at the start of the year. We want to win trophies, and there's no point having those records unless we back them up."

Connacht elite player development officer Jimmy Duffy chats about the province's latest programme, 'Grassroots to Green Shirts', which they hope will increase the number of indigenous players coming through the provincial player pathway. In the westerners' current senior squad, there are 19 players who have come through the Connacht system.

Speaking about Connacht's 'Grassroots to Green Shirts' initiative, the province's CEO Tom Sears said: "We like to think we're innovative in our approach, that we're looking at things slightly differently. We've shown that the production line is working with the young players coming through. The system is working, we just need a bit more investment to make sure we can get more players through."

Connacht's head of commercial and marketing Alex Saul talks about some exciting developments off the pitch for the province, including their 'Grassroots to Green Shirts' crowd-funding initiative which gives fans the chance to play their part in growing and developing the future stars of Connacht and Irish rugby.

Speaking after the 30-11 home win over the Dragons, Connacht head coach Eric Elwood said: "We're a little bit disappointed we didn't get the bonus point, but the good thing is we got a good victory at home and we had a great crowd. We're back on the horse and it sets us up for Harlequins (next week)."

Speaking about recovering from the disappointing defeat to the Scarlets, young Leinster centre Noel Reid said: "We went over looking for a result and we didn't perform the way we wanted to. So we need a big week now of training and focusing on the things that didn't go our way - the breakdown in particular."

RaboDirect PRO12

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	Pts
1	Ulster	22	17	1	4	81
2	Leinster	22	17	0	5	78
3	Glasgow	22	16	0	6	76
4	Scarlets	22	15	0	7	66
5	Ospreys	22	14	1	7	62
6	Munster	22	11	1	10	54
7	Treviso	22	10	2	10	50
8	Connacht	22	8	1	13	38
9	Blues	22	8	0	14	38
10	Edinburgh	22	7	0	15	36
11	Dragons	22	6	0	16	28
12	Zebre	22	0	0	22	10