MOST in Scottish rugby would be glad of witnessing the kind of genuine competition for places that appears to be bubbling in the midfield ahead of the Bank of Scotland Corporate Autumn Test series.
Andy Henderson smiles and agrees that it is healt
hy for the game, but the 28-year-old is less than enamoured with suggestions that it means his international days might be over.
The 6ft 4in centre earned his 50th cap with the first Test of the year, but has watched the pressure build since then from Nick De Luca and Ben Cairns at Edinburgh and Graeme Morrison and Max Evans under his nose at Glasgow.
The Morrison-Evans combination has proven popular with Sean Lineen, the Glasgow coach, and with Cairns expected to be fully recovered from injury by November, that quartet are the front-runners for the 12 and 13 jerseys against New Zealand, where Frank Hadden's backs adviser is again Lineen.
But Henderson was yesterday thrown an opportunity when he was named to start in his favoured inside centre position for the first time this season, in Glasgow's Magners League clash with Munster tonight.
Colin Gregor has similarly been handed a chance by replacing the rested Dan Parks at stand-off.
This is a big game for Munster as they are opening their new Thomond Park Stadium – a great tribute to the efforts made in southern Ireland over the past decade to make a success of pro rugby.
The capacity for tonight's game has been capped at 23,000, and all tickets have been sold, while the official opening match will be in November when Munster host New Zealand in front of 26,000.
But it is a big game for Glasgow, who have started the season brightly, not least in last Friday's scintillating win over the Scarlets, but they have yet to notch successive wins. Henderson said: "It is a big game in many ways, but obviously it would be a good one to win.
"Personally, of course, the ultimate goal is to play for Scotland again because I've never retired, but the main focus recently has just been getting back into the Glasgow team – that comes before anything else.
"It's good to get a shot this week and I'm hoping that I can be part of a good team performance. The guys are all working hard and there is good competition, and my response has been to continue working hard and looking to improve my game.
"There has never been any complacency when I was in the Glasgow or Scotland teams; it's just that when you're not in there, opportunities are more limited.
"It's not easy trying to impress coming off the bench, so this is a good chance to remind some people maybe what I can do at this level.
"But, more importantly, it's a chance for the team to get wins back-to-back and show what we are capable of as a whole. The way we played against the Scarlets was exciting last week and we need to continue that."
Lineen is aware that the huge Limerick crowd will create an intense atmosphere on a par with the Heineken Cup, and is wary of how his players will respond.
He said: "It's always interesting to see how both sets of players and the referee react when the crowd get the noise levels up – it's going to be a full house, it's going to be unbelievably noisy, so they have got to make sure they are switched on.
"Andrew's an international 12 and he's played in front of big crowds before, so it's a chance for him to make his mark on the game. He is champing at the bit to play.
"I'd be a fool not to rotate the squad and give the guy a chance. Graeme (Morrison] played very well against the Scarlets last week and now it's up to Andy to show us what he's got; and what better place to do it?
"Colin Gregor's done well against Munster in the past, he's a skilled footballer and I like the way he plays. If he gets the support from the players around him and he manages to make good decisions under real pressure then I think he could have a cracking game."
Munster start veterans Anthony Horgan, 31, and Alan Quinlan, 34, for the first time this season, and with scrum-half Tomas O'Leary out injured, Ireland cap Peter Stringer is back in.
Tony McGahan, the Munster coach, insisted that some places were still up for grabs for next week's launch of their Heineken Cup defence, but he appears to have opted for a dress rehearsal by picking virtually the entire XV expected to play against Montauban.
He said: "It's our final run-out before the Heineken Cup kicks off and again an opportunity for selected players to put their hands up."
Munster: K Earls; D Howlett, B Murphy, R Tipoki, A Horgan; R O'Gara, P Stringer; M Horan, F Sheahan, J Hayes, P O'Connell (capt), D O'Callaghan, A Quinlan, D Wallace, J Melck. Subs: D Fogarty, T Buckley, M O'Driscoll, N Ronan, M Prendergast, P Warwick, K Lewis.
Glasgow: B Stortoni; L Fa'atau, M Evans, A Henderson, T Evans; C Gregor, M McMillan; J Va'a, D Hall, M Low, O Palepoi, A Kellock (capt), K Brown, J Beattie, J Barclay. Subs: E Kalman, K Tkachuk, T Barker, S Swindall, R Jackson, G Morrison, H O'Hare.
