Munster scrum-half Conor Murray knows he must produce the performances of his life in the final weeks of the RaboDirect PRO12 campaign if he’s to win selection for this summer’s Lions tour to Australia.

This weekend Munster travel to high-flying Glasgow for a must-win league fixture as they look to make up precious ground on the top-four clubs in the race for an end-of-season play-off place.

Munster also has a Heineken Cup quarter-final against Harlequins to look forward to in April and Murray knows there’s still time to impress Lions boss Warren Gatland.

Glasgow's record seven game winning run in the RaboDirect PRO12 came to an end in Dublin last Saturday night as they slipped up against table-topping Leinster.

The Warriors have won their last five matches in all competitions at Scotstoun since losing there, 6-9, to Castres in the European Cup in December.

Glasgow's only win in their last six encounters with Irish provinces was 20-14 at home to Ulster in round 16 and Murray is desperate to take advantage.

“Coming back to play with Munster is first and foremost and you have got to make sure your game is up to scratch to get in the team and perform on the day,” said Murray.

“Then there’s the quarter-final of the Heineken Cup and there’s players there that you might be in contention with for honours so that will probably be in the back of my mind and you can’t hide the fact that that is there.

“Every player is asked about it (Lions) and they give you a roundabout answer that they are not thinking about it but I have thought about it and you’re putting all the possible selections in your mind but it changes every day in my head.

“I don’t know where I am but I’d like to think I am in and around there. The competition for the scrum-half position is immense. All the contenders had strong championships and are in with a good shout of making the squad.”

Changes have been kept to a minimum for Munster but in the backline Johne Murphy comes onto the wing in place of the injured Denis Hurley while this time around Duncan Williams starts with Cathal Sheridan on the bench.

In the pack, changes see Mike Sherry and BJ Botha named ahead of Damien Varley and Stephen Archer respectively with Paddy Butler into the back row for the injured (knee) Sean Dougall.

Munster ended a three game winless run in the RaboDirect PRO12 with their victory over Connacht in Cork last weekend.

The Munstermen have not won outside of Ireland in the PRO12 since a trip to Cardiff Blues in November but their only defeat in their last 15 contests with Scottish opponents in all competitions since 2009 was to Edinburgh at Murrayfield in September 2011.

Munster have won the last six fixtures against Glasgow since the Warriors last win, 22-9, at Firhill in the opening game of the 2009/10 campaign.

The Warriors have called on the big guns for this clash however and Stuart Hogg, Sean Maitland, Ryan Grant and Tim Swinson return starting line-up.

Ruaridh Jackson, Sean Lamont, Ryan Wilson, Jon Welsh and Pat MacArthur have been promoted from the bench, while Peter Murchie, James Eddie, Gordon Reid and Ed Kalman drop out of the 23-man squad. Alex Dunbar and Tommy Seymour both picked up knocks in Dublin and will not be involved.

And after last week’s disappointment against Leinster, fly-half Duncan Weir is looking to set the record straight against Munster.

Weir said: "We're all really disappointed after the result but there are lots of positives to take from the game and we have to pick ourselves up for Munster.

"It is frustrating to have led for most of the match and to lose it at the end but there is not much between the top three teams in the league and we've still got it all to play for."

At Scotstoun Stadium, 8.05pm. Live on BBC ALBA

Referee: Leighton Hodges (WRU, 27th competition game)
Assistant Referees: Peter Allan, Adrian Graves (both SRU)
Citing Commissioner: Peter Brown (SRU)
TMO: Iain Ramage (SRU)