Munster welcome back captain Beirne for Ospreys

Tadhg Beirne was part of the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa in 2021

United Rugby Championship: Munster v Ospreys

Venue: Virgin Media Park, Cork Date: Saturday, 5 October Kick off: 19:35 BST

Coverage: Live on S4C via iPlayer. Highlights on the BBC Sport website and app.

Ireland trio Tadhg Beirne, Jack Crowley and Peter O'Mahony will bolster Munster when they face Ospreys in the United Rugby Championship (URC) match in Cork on Saturday.

Lock Beirne captains a team that shows eight personnel changes and one positional switch to the XV defeated by Zebre last weekend.

Centre Bryan Fitzgerald, wing Shay McCarthy, prop Jeremy Loughman, hooker Niall Scannell and number eight Jack O'Donoghue also start.

Ospreys give first league starts to prop Steffan Thomas and centre Phil Cokanasiga.

The pair replace Gareth Thomas and Keiran Williams, who drops to the bench, while full-back Max Nagy, wing Iestyn Hopkins and lock Huw Sutton also start.

Flanker Justin Tipuric is not included in the squad.

Both sides have won one and lost one game in the URC this season.

Ospreys followed a 23-21defeat at Dragons with a 37-24 win against Stormers in Bridgend.

Munster enjoyed a narrow 35-33 home win over Connacht on the opening weekend before losing 42-33 at Zebre.

Munster have won their last nine fixtures in Cork, since Edinburgh beat them in November 2019, and have won their last seven encounters with Welsh regions since defeat by Dragons in Newport in September 2022.

Ospreys have beaten an Irish province just once since December 2021 - a 19-17 win at home to Ulster in February - and have won on just two of their nine previous visits to Cork.

Munster: Mike Haley; Calvin Nash, Tom Farrell, Bryan Fitzgerald, Shay McCarthy; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey; Jeremy Loughman, Niall Scannell, Oli Jager, Jean Kleyn, Tadhg Beirne (capt), Peter O’Mahony, John Hodnett, Jack O’Donoghue.

Replacements: Diarmuid Barron, John Ryan, Stephen Archer, Fineen Wycherley, Gavin Coombes, Conor Murray, Tony Butler, Jack Daly.

Ospreys: Max Nagy; Iestyn Hopkins, Owen Watkin, Phil Cokanasiga, Ryan Conbeer; Dan Edwards, Reuben Morgan-Williams; Steffan Thomas, Dewi Lake, Tom Botha, Huw Sutton, Adam Beard, James Ratti, Jac Morgan (capt), Morgan Morris.

Replacements: Sam Parry, Garyn Phillips, Ben Warren, Lewis Jones, Harri Deaves, Luke Davies, Jack Walsh, Keiran Williams.

Referee: Mike Adamson (SRU)

Assistant referees: Keane Davison & Chris Lough (IRFU)

TMO: Sam Grove-White (SRU)