Team check

Ulster

Ulster will be without internationals Jonathan Bell and Tyrone Howe for tomorrow night's Guinness interprovincial against Connacht at Ravenhill. Both have been suffering from hamstring stains, with Bell's considered the more serious.

New Zealand born Shane Stewart replaces the Dungannon man in the centre while Sheldon Coulter named in the Ireland Under-25 squad for the Japan match next week comes in on the left wing. Coach Harry Williams is not expected to name the replacements' panel until the morning of the game.

Ulster: G Henderson; J Topping, R Constable, S Stewart, S Coulter; D Humphreys (capt), B Free; J Fitzpatrick, R Weir, C Boyd; M Blair, G Longwell; R Nelson, T McWhirter, A Ward.

Munster

MUNSTER have made wholesale changes for tomorrow night's game against Leinster at Donnybrook. There are four changes behind the scrum, John O'Neill comes in on the right wing with John Kelly moving to the centre to the exclusion of Mike Mullins. Killian Keane replaces Jason Holland while Jeremy Staunton and Tom Tierney form a new halfback partnership in place of Ronan O'Gara and Peter Stringer.

In the pack David Wallace and Alan Quinlan, originally ruled out, have been named in the backrow alongside new captain Anthony Foley. He takes over from the injured Mick Galwey, the latter replaced by Mick O'Driscoll. Peter Clohessy is rested allowing Marcus Horan a starting place at loosehead prop.

Coach Declan Kidney pointed out: "The game gives us the opportunity to give players a run and others a break. Although our understanding is that three teams will qualify for next season's European Cup we still have a responsibility to perform to the best of our ability.

"By the same token there are some international matches coming up and we have players involved with different requirements, particularly some who need match practice to do themselves and their team justice. Jeremy (Staunton), Tom (Tierney) and Marcus (Horan) for example, may very well be involved with the Development side against Japan and they'll certainly benefit from the outing."

Munster: D Crotty; J O'Neill, J Kelly, K Keane, A Horgan; J Staunton, T Tierney; M Horan, F Sheahan, J Hayes; M O'Driscoll, J Langford; A Quinlan, A Foley (capt), D Wallace. Replacements (from): P Clohessy, J Blaney, J Fogarty, D O'Callaghan, C McMahon, P Stringer, R O'Gara, M Mullins, J Holland. Connacht and Leinster will name teams today.

Ireland under-21

Provincial commitments and injuries have demanded several alterations to the Ireland Under-21 squad travelling to Paris for back to back matches against France at Stade Pershing. The first match kicks off at 6.0 p.m. with the second following immediately afterwards.

Niall Breslin (Leinster) is injured and is replaced by Paul Griffin (Munster). Alan Hickie (Munster) is also recovering from an injury and Cathal Murphy (Connacht) will deputise. Connacht's Damien Browne and Johnny O'Connor are both required for provincial duty against Ulster and are replaced by Darren Barbour (Ulster) and William Wallace (Connacht) respectively.

Neil McMillan (Ulster) and Donal Crotty (Leinster) have been added to the original squad after last weekend's interprovincial matches.

French full back Thomas Castaignede was forced to quit a training session with an ankle injury yesterday but officials said they were confident he would still play against Australia on Saturday.

France (v Australia, Stade de France, Saturday): T Castaignede (Saracens/Eng); T Lombard (Stade Frangais), F Comba (Stade Frangais), R Dourthe (Biziers), D Bory (Montferrand); C Lamaison (Agen), F Galthii (Colomiers); O Magne (Montferrand), C Juillet (Stade Frangais), C Moni (Stade Frangais), F Pelous (Toulouse-capt), O Brouzet (Northampton/Eng), C Califano (Toulouse), F Landreau (Stade Frangais), S Marconnet (Stade Frangais). Replacements: O Azam (Gloucester/Eng), F Tournaire (Toulouse), D Auradou (Stade Frangais), S Betsen (Biarritz), P Carbonneau (Pau), Y Delaigue (Toulouse), X Garbajosa (Toulouse).

Scotland (v USA at Murrayfield, Saturday): Paterson (Edinburgh Reivers); C Murray (Edinburgh Reivers), A Bulloch (Glasgow Caledonians), Leslie (Newcastle Falcons), Steel (Glasgow Caledonians); Townsend (Castres), Redpath (Sale Sharks); Smith (Brive), Brotherstone (Northampton), Graham (Newcastle Falcons), S Murray (Saracens), Grimes (Newcastle Falcons), Petrie (Glasgow Caledonians), Taylor (Edinburgh Reivers), Pountney (captain, Northampton). Replacements: S Scott (Edinburgh Reivers), McIlwham (Glasgow Caledonians), R Metcalfe (Edinburgh Reivers), White (Glasgow Caledonians), Beveridge (Glasgow Caledonians), Hodge (Edinburgh Reivers), Joiner (Edinburgh Reivers).