Edinburgh head coach Alan Solomons is hoping to blow the cobwebs away in style at Thomond Park on Friday night.

The Scottish outfit head to Ireland for their GUINNESS PRO12 curtain raiser, desperate to hit the ground running against a Munster side that were narrowly denied a place in last year’s final.

Solomons has opted for a mix of youth and experience in his first team of the season, with fresh-faced flanker Hamish Marshall starting after an impressive pre-season.

Sean Kennedy is preferred at scrum-half, with plenty of experience in front of him in the form of No.8 Cornell Du Preez and front-rowers Alasdair Dickinson and Ross Ford, who captains the side.

The South African coach also has the luxury of picking clinical wing Tim Visser, who managed just nine PRO12 appearances last season due to injury.

Edinburgh’s only victory on the PRO12 opening weekend since 2005 came when they visited Cardiff Blues at Cardiff City Stadium in 2009 and won 22-21.

They have lost their last five matches in the competition and the Scotsmen's only victory in Ireland in their last 23 visits was 24-23 at Connacht in December 2012.

However, Solomons insists Edinburgh can get a win on the board at the first available opportunity.

"What it's about is to start out getting our performance right," he said. "Sides that have been together for a long period will have no problem; sides that haven't will be a little bit undercooked at the start of the season.

"I know we're a little bit undercooked but that doesn't concern me. It's important we go out and give a good performance against Munster and that's what we will be focusing on."

Munster, on the other hand, traditionally start the PRO12 season well, winning all but one of their season-opening contests since 2006.

They have lost their last two matches at Thomond Park but have never lost three in succession at the venue in the professional era.

Head coach Anthony Foley has the luxury of naming Ireland winger Simon Zebo and veteran second-row Donncha O’Callaghan in his starting line-up, while Ian Keatley starts at ten.

But CJ Stander, who will wear the No.6 shirt on Friday night, is not taking the challenge presented by Edinburgh lightly.

“They are a good team,” he said. “We played them four times last year but we don’t really look back on that.

“It is a new season and it’s a new competition, they have a lot of new staff, we have a lot of new staff and I think they are a very good team and they are exciting. I’m looking forward to it.”

At Thomond Park, 7.35pm. Live on TG4/BBC ALBA
Referee: Leighton Hodges (WRU, 41st competition game)
Assistant Referees: Nigel Correll, John Carvill (both IRFU)
Citing Commissioner: Eddie Walsh (IRFU)
TMO: Jude Quinn (IRFU)

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