Celtic League / Connacht v Munster: Gary Connolly, the 34-year-old former Britain rugby league star, is pitched straight into the Munster starting line-up after being signed before Thursday's registration deadline for the Heineken European Cup.

Connolly, who was signed on a four-month deal in light of injuries to Christian Cullen and Mike Mullins, will partner Trevor Halstead in midfield after arriving in time for yesterday's eve-of-match captain's run.

Connolly has had some experience of the union code, having played with Harlequins for a season in 1996/97, and having played once for the Irish rugby league team, had often been touted as a prospective capture by Ireland. In the event, he makes a belated arrival from Widnes Vikings.

With Mullins injured, and Halstead and Rob Henderson seen as players of similar style more suited to the inside-centre role, the number 13 jersey had become something of a problem position for the Munster management, so much so that Denis Leamy was tried there twice.

Leamy will surely be relieved to be back in his preferred number seven jersey after David Wallace was sidelined, while Peter Stringer and Marcus Horan also return to the starting line-up, as does Mick O'Driscoll for the injured Paul O'Connell.

Even without O'Connell and Wallace, it is an all-international Munster pack that faces Connacht today.

As daunting for Connacht is the weight of history. The province recorded their last of only five victories against Munster in 74 meetings way back in November 1986, and Munster have won 13 matches in a row at the Sportsground since their last defeat in Galway, in October 1979.

For much of the intervening period, Connacht have either sustained heavy defeats or come desperately close to beating their main nemesis.

They have rarely come closer than last season, when denied late on in a fluctuating, full-on 27-all draw in Cork and then losing the return fixture in Dubarry Park by 3-0, proof that something akin to rugby lightning does strike twice, given they lost by the same score here two years ago.

On the face of it, Connacht seem less empowered to overcome such historical baggage this time around.

Whereas most of Munster's frontliners are in action, Connacht have lost some key men since then with the retirement of Eric Elwood and the departure of key ball carriers up front, Bernard Jackman and John O'Sullivan.

Tellingly, the injured O'Sullivan now has four internationals and Stephen Keogh ahead of him in the Munster back-row pecking order.

Connacht's set pieces have struggled, errors have crept into their game more and their confidence must have suffered after three successive defeats, culminating in a particularly disappointing defeat at home to the Borders that leaves them propping up the table.

At least Paul Warwick has been declared fit, thereby removing the need to call Elwood out of retirement, and whether it's a commentary on their resources or a statement of faith, Michael Bradley has made only one change.

John Muldoon is restored to the back row and Andrew Gallagher is promoted to the bench to the exclusion of Michael Swift.

You'd hope a big crowd and a big home performance will greet Munster but while they have been a tad inconsistent thus far, anything less than a fairly convincing win would be a surprise.

CONNACHT: M Mostyn; C McPhillips, D Yapp, J Downey, K Matthews; P Warwick, T Tierney; D McFarland, J Fogarty, S Knoop; C Short, A Farley (capt); J Muldoon, M Lacey, C Rigney. Replacements: C Venter, R Hogan, A Gallagher, B O'Connor, C Keane, D Slemen, T Robinson.

MUNSTER: B Murphy; J Kelly, G Connolly, T Halstead, I Dowling; R O'Gara, P Stringer; M Horan, F Sheahan, J Hayes; D O'Callaghan, M O'Driscoll; A Quinlan, D Leamy, A Foley (capt). Replacements: F Pucciarello, J Flannery, T Hogan, S Keogh, T O'Leary, P Burke, R Henderson.

Referee: David Keane (IRFU).

Celtic League meetings: (01/02) Munster 40 Connacht 19. (02/03) Munster 33 Connacht 3. (03/04) Connacht 0 Munster 3; Munster 39 Connacht 10. (04/05) Munster 27 Connacht 27; Connacht 0 Munster 3.

Formguide: Connacht: 13-9 v Cardiff (h); 3-34 v Edinburgh (a); 17-25 v Llanelli (a); 15-17 v Borders (h). Munster: 9-7 v Borders (h); 37-10 v Ospreys (h); 10-32 v Glasgow (a); 14-13 v Llanelli (h).

Leading try scorers: Connacht: Conor McPhillips, Paul Warwick, Colm Rigney, Matt Lacey, Christian Venter 1 each. Munster: Anthony Horgan 2.

Leading scorers: Connacht: Paul Warwick 21. Munster: Paul Burke 24.

Forecast: Munster to win.

Sportsground, today, kick-off - 2pm