Munster's Paul O'Connell, Dave Kilcoyne, Conor Murray and JJ Hanrahan are all set to make their first appearances of the season in Friday's Guinness Pro12 clash with Zebre.

The quartet are all likely to feature at some point during the Thomond Park encounter.

There is more good news for the province as Munster captain Peter O'Mahony is making good progress in his return from shoulder surgery and has resumed some light contact work while Keith Earls, Luke O'Dea and Gerhard van den Heever also all back running.