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Preview: Clermont v Munster

Friday 05th December 2008

Timely return: Aurélien Rougerie is back to face Munster again

Clermont Auvergne host defending Heineken Cup champions and Pool One leaders Munster on Sunday at Parc des Sports Marcel Michelin in a crucial European fixture.

Munster are aiming to continue their impressive start to the defence of their crown with a third straight win with a trip to France. The reigning champions have already triumphed over newcomers Montauban and secured a crucial away win at Sale Sharks in Round Two.

The Red Army picked up a losing bonus point on their visit to Clermont Auvergne last season and the same result will aid Munster's aim to reach the latter stages.

Clermont lie in third position having been beaten by Sale at home before bouncing back with a win over French rivals Montauban.

The home side have been boosted by the return from a long injury lay-off of captain Aurélien Rougerie, who will start on the right wing.

Fijian flyer Napoliani Nalaga is still serving a suspension for a high tackle on Jean-Baptiste Elissalde in the November Test between France and the Pacific Islands so Julien Malzieu will play on the left wing. Anthony Floch completes an all-French international back three.

Australian Brock James will start at fly-half for a mouth-watering clash with Irish opposite number Ronan O'Gara.

Meanwhile, besides the absence of Rua Tipoki, Jerry Flannery and Denis Hurley, Munster will also be without Denis Leamy who has been ruled out of action for a minimum five weeks with a knee injury sustained in the game against The Scarlets last Friday in Llanelli.

Form: Clermont have had an up-and-down season. Two weeks ago they beat Perpignan to revive their season, only to falter last week in an humiliating defeat away to basement dwellers Mont-de-Marsan. Munster are in typically dominant form, after beating the Scarlets away from home last weekend.

Clermont: 15 Anthony Floch, 14 Aurélien Rougerie (c), 13 Benoît Baby, 12 Seremaïa Baï, 11 Julien Malzieu, 10 Brock James, 9 Pierre Mignoni, 8 Julien Bonnaire, 7 Alexandre Lapandry, 6 Jamie Cudmore, 5 Loïc Jacquet, 4 Julien Pierre, 3 Davit Zirakashvili,2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Thomas Domingo.
Replacements: 16 Mirko Lozupone, 17 Laurent Emmanuelli , 18 Alexandre Audebert, 19 Elvis Vermeulen, 20 John Senio, 21 Pierre-Manuel Garcia, 22 Grant Esterhuizen.

Munster: 15 Keith Earls, 14 Doug Howlett, 13 Barry Murphy, 12 Lifeimi Mafi, 11 Ian Dowling, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Tomas O'Leary, 8 David Wallace, 7 Niall Ronan, 6 Alan Quinlan, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Frankie Sheahan, 1 Marcus Horan
Replacements: 16 Denis Fogarty, 17 Tony Buckley, 18 Donnacha Ryan, 19 James Coughlan, 20 Peter Stringer, 21 Paul Warwick, 22 Jeremy Manning

Date: Sunday, December 7
Venue: Parc des Sports Marcel Michelin
Kick-off: 16:00 (15:00 GMT)
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Touch judges: Rob Debney (England), Robin Goodliffe (England)
Television match official: Graham Hughes (England)

Heineken Cup Pool 1 Win Outright: Munster 1/6