Donnacha Ryan will make his first appearance for Munster since October when Rob Penney’s side bid for back-to-back wins against Perpignan at the Stade Aime Giral tomorrow afternoon (3.40pm).
The Ireland second row's return from a knee injury will go some way to offset the loss of scrumhalf Conor Murray who damaged knee ligaments himself during Munster's facile 36-8 win at Thomond Park last weekend.
In all, Penny has made four changes to the side that started in Limerick with Ryan starting ahead of Donncha O'Callaghan, Cathal Sheridan coming in for Murray, while James Cronin and BJ Botha replace Dave Kilcoyne and Stephen Archer in the front row.
Munster: Felix Jones; Keith Earls, Casey Laulala, James Downey, Johne Murphy; Ian Keatley, Cathal Sheridan; James Cronin, Damien Varley, BJ Botha; Donnacha Ryan, Paul O'Connell; Peter O'Mahony, Sean Dougall, James Coughlan. Replacements: Duncan Casey, Dave Kilcoyne, Stephen Archer, Donncha O'Callaghan, Tommy O'Donnell, Duncan Williams, JJ Hanrahan, Denis Hurley
Did you Know
* Munster have won just once on their last five trips to France in the Heineken Cup (27-24 v Castres in 2011).
* Perpignan have won 22 of their last 23 home games in the Heineken Cup.
* Munster lead the way with 42 turnovers in the tournament so far this season.
* The province also have the leading average over 184 passes per game.
* Munster also maintain possession at the breakdown more often than any other club (97 per cent).
* Munster’s place kickers, Ian Keatley (14/16 - 88 per cent) and JJ Hanrahan (2/2 - 100 per cent) have a collective success rate of 89 per cent this season.
* James Hook has landed 11 out of 13 attempts at goal so far (85 per cent).
* Luke Charteris made 20 tackles without a single miss at Thomond Park last week.
* Two players, Keith Earls (172) and Watisoni Votu (124), carried for over 100 metres last Sunday. Votu beat seven defenders and Earls nine, a high for the round.
