Munster v Leinster –

Denis Hickie, Girvan Dempsey, Shane Horgan and Victor Costello are all ruled out while there is also a doubt about Trevor Brennan.

For their part Munster expect to be at full strength with the obvious exception of Peter Clohessy but Peter Stringer and Alan Quinlan, who missed the Shannon game last Saturday are expected to make an appearance at some stage of Friday evening’s game.

The Munster management will doubtless name their strongest possible side for Friday’s game but then use all their replacements in the course of the match which they see as ideal preparation for the Heineken Cup match a week later.