Leinster number eight Jamie Heaslip will leads his team to face Glasgow Warriors in Friday's Magners League clash at the RDS.
The team which shows several changes from the side who defeated Toulouse last weekend.
Heaslip links up in the back-row with Dominic Ryan and Shane Jennings, with Kevin McLaughlin switching to second row alongside Devin Toner.
Jack McGrath makes his sixth Magners League appearance in the front row alongside Richardt Strauss and Stan Wright.
Gordon D'Arcy lines up alongside Eoin O'Malley (who has featured in 19 games so far this season) at centre.
Fergus McFadden, meanwhile, is set to bring up his half century of caps in Leinster colours.
Cian Healy is one of four international forwards on the bench alongside Nathan Hines, Mike Ross and Rhys Ruddock.
Meanwhile, one of Glasgow Warriors' most promising prospects will make his professional debut against the Heineken Cup finalists.
Centre Mark Bennett, a member of the Warriors' Elite Development Programme and part of the Ayr squad that reached the knock-out stages of the British & Irish Cup, has been named as one of five personnel changes from the team that played the Scarlets at Firhill a fortnight ago.
Bennett slots in at outside centre and Peter Murchie will move to fullback as a result where he takes over from Bernardo Stortoni who drops out of the matchday squad altogether.
On the right wing, Stortoni's Argentine compatriot Federico Aramburu is given the nod ahead of Hefin O'Hare who also drops out of the travelling party.
Weir's predecessor against the Scarlets, Ruaridh Jackson, is named among the replacements.
In the forward pack, Moray Low is the only front-row survivor as Ryan Grant is re-installed ahead of Kevin Tkachuk and Fergus Thomson is preferred to Dougie Hall.
The Warriors travel in search of their first ever win in Dublin whilst the home side will also be fired up for the match as a win would guarantee them home advantage in the Magners League Play-Offs.
The last nine encounters between the two sides have all been won by the home side on the day, but the size of Friday's task is epitomised by the fact that Leinster are unbeaten at home in the regular Magners League season since September 2008.
"It's a massive challenge, but one which we are looking forward to," said Glasgow coach Sean Lineen.
"I think they are the form team in Europe, they are certainly very consistent, they have a very strong squad and they play a brand of rugby that everyone wants to aspire to."
The teams:
Leinster: 15 Isa Nacewa, 14 Shane Horgan, 13 Eoin O'Malley, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Fergus McFadden, 10 Ian Madigan, 9 Isaac Boss, 8 Jamie Heaslip (c), 7 Shane Jennings, 6 Dominic Ryan, 5 Devin Toner, 4 Kevin McLaughlin, 3 Stan Wright, 2 Richardt Strauss, 1 Jack McGrath.
Replacements: 16 Aaron Dundon, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Mike Ross, 19 Nathan Hines, 20 Rhys Ruddock, 21 Paul O'Donohoe, 22 Ian McKinley, 23 David Kearney.
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Peter Murchie, 14 Federico Aramburu, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Graeme Morrison (c), 11 DTH van der Merwe, 10 Duncan Weir, 9 Chris Cusiter, 8 Johnnie Beattie, 7 Richie Vernon, 6 James Eddie, 5 Tom Ryder, 4 Aly Muldowney, 3 Moray Low, 2 Fergus Thomson, 1 Ryan Grant.
Replacements: 16 Dougie Hall, 17 Jon Welsh, 18 Kevin Tkachuk , 19 Robert Harley, 20 Chris Fusaro, 21 Colin Gregor, 22 Ruaridh Jackson, 23 Peter Horne.
Comments
leinsterblue says...
I will at the game and am hoping we can sign off the regular season with a win and home advantage for the semis...selection is interesting - glad to see McFadden beside D'Arcy as I think that gives us a different attacking option down the middle...the bench options for the forwards are really strong...
my main concern is how focused the squad will be for tonight...2 fantastic HC victories over the last 4 weeks, and the Ulster/Aroni matches squashed in between... then the HC final, magners league semi and final (hopefully) to come.. we need to maintain our mental focus and beat Glasgow tonight and not be worrying about the rest of May (well, at least not till about 9PM tonight)
Posted 09:26 06th May 2011
blametheref says...
Feel Leinster should be trying someone else at full back for a change. Good to see Sexton and BOD rested. Three players that Leinster cannot afford injuries to, Nacewa, BOD and Sexton...
Posted 09:21 06th May 2011