Munster coach Tony McGahan has opted to keep Doug Howlett at fullback and move youngster Keith Earls to the wing for the opening Magners League game against Edinburgh at Murrayfield on Friday.
In his first competitive selection since succeeding Declan Kidney, McGahan has made a slightly surprising call in moving Earls from the centre, where he has impressed during pre-season, to the right wing.
However, Earls' two sublime tries against London Irish on Sunday, the second of which saw him gather a crossfield Ronan O'Gara kick before powering over, may well have offered McGahan a glimpse of his potential there and the move allows Lifeimi Mafi and Rua Tipoki to resume their partnership in the centre.
After coming off the bench against the Exiles, O'Gara returns to partner scrumhalf Tomas O'Leary from the off, while the pack has a familiar look to it too.
The front five is very recognisable with Jerry Flannery in between John Hayes and Marcus Horan in the frontrow and captain Paul O'Connell renewing his partnership with fellow lock Donncha O'Callaghan.
The return of such talent means Donnacha Ryan move to blindside flanker, while John O'Sullivan is named at openside and David Wallace starts at number eight.
Edinburgh coach Andy Robinson sees his side enter the game against the European champions on a bit of an upward curve after wins over Wasps and Bath in pre-season.
Anything less than a win over McGahan's men would therefore be "pointless", insists the former England coach.
"It is important on the back of all our pre-season work that we win at the weekend," Robinson said today. "A loss this weekend would make the pre-season friendly results pointless. So it is important that the guys who do have the experience and the talent really deliver.
"We are now facing our biggest test of the year so far because we are facing Munster.
"We didn't beat them last year and they play a tough brand of rugby. We need to be able to cope with the way they play as well as imposing our gameplan on them."
Lock Craig Hamilton will partner Ben Gissing, as Scottish international Matt Mustchin moves to blindside flanker to help cope with Munster set-piece.
"The reason why we have decided to put Matt in the back row is to do with being able to deal with the new line-outs," said Robinson. "We are looking to counter the threat that Munster have at the set-piece and it was important that we fielded our biggest pack.
"I was also very impressed with the way Craig Hamilton performed at Bath last week; he has really forced his way through into the team."
On the right wing, Chris Paterson will earn his 150th Edinburgh cap in his first start since April 2007.
Munster:D Howlett; K Earls, L Mafi, R Tipoki, I Dowling; R O'Gara, T O'Leary; M Horan, J Flannery, J Hayes; D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell capt; D Ryan, J O'Sullivan, D Wallace. Replacements:F Sheahan, F Pucciariello, M O'Driscoll, J Melck, P Stringer, P Warwick, B Murphy
Edinburgh:Hugo Southwell; Chris Paterson, Calum MacRae, Nick De Luca, Simon Webster; Phil Godman, Mike Blair (c); Allan Jacobsen, Ross Ford, Geoff Cross; Craig Hamilton, Ben Gissing; Matt Mustchin, Alan MacDonald, Allister Hogg. Replacements: Andrew Kelly, Gavin Kerr, Scott Newlands, David Callam, Greig Laidlaw, Mark Robertson, Andrew Turnbull
