Munster must breathe fire

If there is one Irish province which could empathise with Leinster's plight then it's Alan Gaffney's squad, who incredibly find themselves even more devastated by injury.

The latest names forced out include Martin McPhail, Jason Jones Hughes, Martin Cahill, Dave Pusey and Jerry Flannery, all of whom picked up knocks in last weekend's defeat by Ulster.

It means that Munster have 22 players unavailable for a variety of reasons.

Gaffney is fortunate that he can call upon experienced players like Dominic Crotty and former Bath hooker Andy Long to help bolster his young team. Conrad O'Sullivan, Jody Danagher and Donal Sheehan also make the starting line-up.

Munster will have been seriously disappointed by last Friday's performance and know that the trip to Rodney Parade for tonight's game hardly offers a respite. Their noted durability and obduracy will be tested to the limit.

The Gwent Dragons have brought Tongan international full back Sione Tuipulotu into their side.

Tuipulotu originally signed for the semi-professional Newport side in the Welsh Premiership during the summer. Prior to that he played with Caerphilly, but finds himself elevated to the Celtic League team for this game.

Gerald Arasa comes in on the right wing for the injured Nathan Brew, while Hal Luscombe takes over from another injury victim, Steve Winn, at centre.

The front five remains the same as that which laid the foundation for last weekend's home win over Glasgow, while a back row switch sees Jamie Ringer come in at blindside and Rhys Oakley move to number eight following an injury to South African Shawn van Rensburg.

If Munster are to succeed then they'll have to eradicate many of the errors that peppered their game last week, convert pretty much every scoring opportunity and elicit a quality of performance that hasn't been evident since their opening-weekend victory over Leinster: quite an assignment for a patchwork team.

GWENT DRAGONS: S Tuipulotu; G Arasa, H Luscombe, A Marinos (capt), B Breeze; C Warlow, G Baber; A Black, S Jones, C Anthony, I Gough, P Sidoli, J Ringer, J Forster, R Oakley. Replacements: R Thomas, P Young, L Charteris, R Williams, B Davey, L Jarvis, B Shelbourne.

MUNSTER: D Crotty; S Payne, M Mullins, C O'Sullivan, M Lawler; J Staunton, E Reddan; S Kerr, A Long, J Danagher, T Hogan, D Sheehan, S Keogh, D Wallace, J Williams (capt). Replacements: E McGovern, F Roche, E Halvey, C McMahon, F Murphy, C Casey, AN Other.

Referee: R Dickson (Scotland).

Leading points scorer: Gwent Dragons - C Warlow 25. Munster - J Staunton 58.

Leading try scorers: Gwent Dragons - J Forster 2. Munster - J Staunton 2.

Last time out: Gwent Dragons - beat Glasgow (h) 27-5. Munster - lost 16-15 (h) to Ulster.

Verdict: Gwent Dragons.