Munster’s pre-season ambition took an opening-weekend hit but after bouncing back in Italy, prop Dave Kilcoyne is desperate to give the Thomond Park faithful something to smile about.

A 21-10 victory at Benetton Treviso last Friday, their first of the GUINNESS PRO12 season, ended a three-match losing run for Munster.

They have also lost an unprecedented three times on the bounce at home, with a 14-13 defeat to Edinburgh completing the unwanted run a fortnight ago.

But as they seek to buck the trend, Kilcoyne and co can be confident in the fact that they have never lost to an Italian side in Ireland.

They can also call on plenty of experience, with Paul O’Connell and Conor Murray coming into the line-up as head coach Anthony Foley makes seven changes.

Full-back Felix Jones retains the captaincy, while BJ Botha comes in at tight-head and JJ Hanrahan is named among the replacements.

“There is a huge onus on the players to turn up week in and week out. We didn’t do it against Edinburgh,” said Kilcoyne.

“We did rectify it against Treviso, but that wasn’t a home game. There is a big onus on us to give the fans the first home win of the season.

“It is obviously very frustrating. You have fans coming, who are paying week in and week out to see us play. The last thing you want to do is not give them value for money.”

They come up against a Zebre squad decimated by injury, with Brendon Leonard, Tommaso Iannone, Andries Van Schalkwyk and Giovanbattista Venditti among the experienced heads missing out.

Guglielmo Palazzani starts at scrum-half in place of Leonard and forms a very young half-back partnership alongside summer signing Edoardo Padovani, while prop Andrea Lovotti also makes his first start.

Zebre have slipped to three successive GUINNESS PRO12 defeats without tallying a league point and they have lost all 21 previous encounters with Irish provinces in all competitions.

Andrea Cavinato’s men have accumulated just one losing bonus point from their four previous encounters with Munster and the head coach knows the scale of the task at hand.

“It will be a very hard clash,” he said. “We need to improve in the defensive aspect and eliminate individual errors that have affected much in the first two games against Cardiff and Ulster, especially in the tactical kicking game.”

At Thomond Park, 7.30pm.
Referee: Ian Davies (WRU, 18th competition game)
Assistant Referees: Nigel Correll, Gary Glennon (both IRFU)
Citing Commissioner: Wayne Sheridan (IRFU)

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