MAGNERS LEAGUE
Venue: Musgrave Park Date: 27 September Kick-off: 1705 BST Coverage: Live on S4C, score updates on BBC Sport website, highlights on Scrum V
Dragons are again without captain Tom Willis because of a torn calf muscle for Sunday's tough trip to Munster. Wales lock Luke Charteris and flanker Gavin Thomas are injured, Jason Tovey is rested, but lock Hoani MacDonald is fit and wins a bench spot. Munster's side has three of their Lions stars for the first time this season. Donncha O'Callaghan, Keith Earls and Ronan O'Gara are in the team but Paul O'Connell has not been included because of a slight hamstring problem. South African international Jean de Villiers is named among the Munster replacements. John Hayes has already featured for Munster this season, while the other two Lions who saw action in South Africa, David Wallace and Jerry Flannery, remain on the injured list. Scrum-half Peter Stringer (calf strain) and Paul Warwick (foot ligament) are also injured, while ex-New Zealand wing Doug Howlett gets a rest having played three games in succession. Ashley Smith, who continues as captain in the absence of Willis and Charteris, says the Welsh side are looking forward to their Musgrave Park test. "There are plenty of things to work on but we're looking forward to Munster," Smith said. "You can see the boys enjoying the game out there, they've been working on being more clinical.  | 606: DEBATE |
"We're putting the performances in at the moment, hopefully we can continue to do that." Dragons coach Paul Turner added: "We're playing some good rugby, we've got to mix it up with some intelligent play. "We've got to go over to Cork and it's a big test for us. "We went there last year and got into the game and then just collapsed. "The side just isn't made of that at the moment. We'll be going to try to pose problems for Munster." Defending champions Munster have won three of their last four games in the league and their last eight home games in all competitions, including four in a row at Musgrave Park. They have lost just one of their last 13 games against Welsh opponents in all competitions. The Dragons have won three of their last four games in the Magners League, but have lost five in a row away from home in the competition. Their only win in Ireland since October 2004 was 16-14 at Ulster on 19 September, 2008. Munster have won their last five encounters with the Dragons, whilst the Dragons' only win on Munster soil was 16-6 at Thomond Park on their first ever visit on 12 March, 2004.
Munster: Keith Earls; Felix Jones, Barry Murphy, Lifeimi Mafi, Denis Hurley; Ronan O'Gara, Tomas O'Leary; Marcus Horan, Denis Fogarty, Tony Buckley; Mick O'Driscoll, Donncha O'Callaghan; Alan Quinlan, Tommy O'Donnell, Nick Williams.
Replacements: Damian Varley, Julien Brugnaut, Donnacha Ryan, James Coughlan, Toby Morland, Jeremy Manning, Jean de Villiers. Dragons: Martyn Thomas; Aled Brew, Tom Riley, Ashley Smith (capt), Richard Fussell; James Arlidge, Wayne Evans; Hugh Gustafson, Steve Jones, Nigel Hall, Adam Jones, Rob Sidoli, Dan Lydiate, James Harris, Joe Bearman.
Replacements: Duane Goodfield, Ali McKenzie, Gethin Robinson, Grant Webb, Hoani MacDonald, Shaun Connor, Danny Lee. Referee: Neil Paterson (SRU)
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