Cardiff v Munster, Arms Park, 5.30pm On a weekend when all the Irish provinces can do each other favours, Munster can not only maintain their pursuit of the Ospreys for the Celtic League title but give Connacht's European Cup play-off/Celtic Cup hopes a shot in the arm were they to leave the home side pointless. Gerry Thornley reports

Idle since the end of January, and having seen an unbeaten home record shredded by three successive and tryless defeats at the Arms Park (to Leinster, the Ospreys and Edinburgh), Cardiff have restored pantomime villain Craig Quinnell to the captaincy, perhaps as much because his two previous stints last November coincided with wins.

Under-pressure coach Dai Young has delayed finalising his backline pending fitness tests on Nick Walne, Shaun James (both shoulder injuries) and Rhys Williams (leg strain), while Fereti Tuilagi and Jonny Bryant are no longer part of the squad. Nick Robinson is suffering from a dead leg and is rated as having only a 50-50 chance of being available.

Two of the Cardiff Welsh Premier Division backs, Chris Czekaj and Dafydd Hewitt, have been called up to the squad.

The return of Shaun Payne and Rob Henderson would appear to have sharpened the Munster midfield, while Stephen Keogh gets his first start since Christmas. Donncha O'Callaghan is replaced by the hitherto unimpressive Tom Bowman.

The Arms Park has been a bogey ground for Munster, yielding three defeats (and 151 points) there over the years. Marcus Horan and Frankie Sheahan should be straining at the leash, and while it will require big performances from Jim Williams (making his first start since December), David Wallace and, perhaps from the bench Alan Quinlan, the Munster backs have enough to maintain their title challenge.

CARDIFF (backs from): C Morgan, D Dewdney, T Davies, D Hewitt, L Thomas, J Vaughton, C Czekaj, N Macleod, N Robinson, R Powell, R Smith; (forwards): M Jones, G Williams, B Evans, C Quinnell (capt), D Jones, M Molitika, K Schubert, R Sowden-Taylor. Replacements (forwards): N Llewellyn, R Thomas, J Goode, N Thomas.

MUNSTER: C Cullen; J Kelly, S Payne, R Henderson, A Horgan; P Burke, M Prendergast; M Horan, F Sheahan, G McIlwham; T Bowman, T Hogan; J Williams, D Wallace, S Keogh. Replacements: F Roche, J Flannery, T Hayes, A Quinlan, E Reddan, J Holland, P Devlin.

Referee: Mike Hall (SRU).

Forecast: Munster to win.