IRELAND rugby legend Donncha O’Callaghan will make an emotional return to his native Cork tomorrow with Worcester Warriors (7pm).

The 37-year-old is expected to line up in Warriors’ final warm-up match at Irish Independent Park against Munster, the province where O’Callaghan made his name.

O’Callaghan joined Warriors last autumn after a remarkable career at Munster where he made a club-record 268 appearances in 17 seasons.

He achieved six winners' medals for Munster across all competitions and won 94 Test caps for Ireland.

The powerhouse lock played in all 22 Worcester’s Aviva Premiership matches last term and was red-carded for the first time in his career against Leicester Tigers last December.

Warriors have lost their first two pre-season friendlies, going down 35-14 against French giants Clermont Auvergne followed by a disappointing 23-17 defeat last Saturday at Championship Jersey.

And Carl Hogg’s men will want an improved showing to take into next Saturday’s Premiership opener against defending champions Saracens at Twickenham (2pm).

“Our final contest before we play Saracens is at Munster which will be a really tough challenge,” said head coach Hogg.

“We will be pretty loaded towards who we think will be playing at Twickenham next weekend and there’s always a natural progression towards this last pre-season fixture.

“Everybody has worked extremely hard in pre-season but ultimately performances in matches will decide whether people play against Saracens.”

Warriors haven’t yet named a squad for the Munster showdown but full-back Chris Pennell (neck) and back-rowers Dewald Potgieter (hamstring) and Sam Lewis (nerve problem) will definitely be unavailable.

Munster, who play in the Guinness Pro-12, have chosen a strong squad which includes international trio James Cronin, Tommy O'Donnell and Simon Zebo.

Injury returnee Tyler Bleyendaal and new signing Jean Kleyn are also included in Munster's starting 15 by director of rugby Rassie Erasmus.

Former Warriors lock Darren O'Shea is named as a replacement for the hosts, who recorded a 17-0 success over Italian outfit Zebre last weekend.

Hogg said: “You can get some world-class trainers who can’t transfer it on to the field but there has been an opportunity for every player within our squad to put their hand up.

“We have had enough games to give people realistic game-time to create an opportunity for them and that’s something we’ve been very conscious of doing and planning.

“Our pre-season camp in Tignes was a great indicator into how hard the players are willing to work for each other as was the Clermont game which wasn’t without its challenges beforehand."

He added: “Clermont are a big European side but I thought we stuck to the task extremely well against them. Sticking to the task and converting it into wins is the challenge for us as a group.”

Munster XV: Simon Zebo; Darren Sweetnam, Dan Goggin, Rory Scannell, Ronan O'Mahony; Tyler Bleyendaal, Duncan Williams; James Cronin, Niall Scannell, John Ryan; Jean Kleyn, Billy Holland - capt., Dave O'Callaghan, Tommy O'Donnell, Jack O'Donoghue.

Replacements: Duncan Casey, Peter McCabe, John Andress, Brian Scott, Darren O'Shea, Dave Foley, Conor Oliver, Robin Copeland, Tomás O'Leary, Ian Keatley, Alex Wootton, Cian Bohane, Colm O'Shea, Stephen Fitzgerald.