Gordon D'Arcy is set to return for Leinster © PA Photos

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Teams: Ireland | Leinster | Munster

Gordon D'Arcy has recovered from a groin strain to be named in Leinster's squad for their Magners League showdown with fierce rivals Munster at Thomond Park on Friday.

The centre had targeted the game for his return after picking up the injury in Ireland's Six Nations defeat to Scotland on March 20 but as expected Brian O'Driscoll will not be fit to make his return after suffering a medial ligament strain. The Irish skipper has been aiming for the Heineken Cup quarter-final against Clermont Auvergne on April 9 as a likely platform for his comeback.

Jamie Heaslip and Cian Healy have been included in the squad, with Scotland lock Nathan Hines also returning, after sitting out last weekend's narrow victory over Connacht.

"There's no doubting that we didn't reach the standards that we demand of ourselves against Connacht last Saturday," head coach Michael Cheika said. "Credit to Connacht, they played particularly well and having analysed their recent performances, it was probably the best I've seen them play over the last few months.

"Even though we scored a good try where [Rob] Kearney made a good line break, we didn't get an awful lot going in terms of our attack, so that's an area that we need to improve upon this week. The players themselves weren't happy with how things went, so we will take the positives from Saturday's game and approach this weekend's challenge positively after welcoming back a few more players into training."

Munster have also been boosted prior to the fixture with hooker Jerry Flannery returning to the squad as his ban for kicking France wing Alexis Palisson during Ireland's Six Nations loss in Paris has now expired.