Preview: Ulster v Leinster

Ulster coach Brian McLaughlin has made four changes to his starting XV to face Leinster at Ravenhill in their derby clash on Saturday.

Ulster coach Brian McLaughlin has made four changes to his starting XV to face Leinster at Ravenhill in their Magners League clash on Saturday.

On the eve of the biggest inter-pro battle to date, Nigel Brady starts at hooker, while Andy Kyriacou is benched. Dan Tuohy and Ed O'Donoghue swap, which means Tuohy comes off the bench to start in the second row alongside Ryan Caldwell.

Flanker Tamaiti Houra replaces an injured Stephen Ferris on the blindside, leaving Chris Henry to take up the roll of skipper at number eight. This means Robbie Diack moves to the bench as an able replacement.

Ian Whitten pairs up with Darren Cave in the midfield, while Paddy Wallace is rested under the IRFU World Cup programme.

“Tomorrow night we have to match the level of performance we produced against Ospreys and Bath. We have to produce this week in week out. Not as a one-off, or occasionally, but consistently,” said McLaughlin.

“The squad have trained hard this week, to ensure that we're at our optimum level on Saturday. If we're at our optimum level then I think we'll be okay.

“The players were deeply disappointed by the performance last week. We all saw it as an opportunity and now we all know, that on the day we didn't achieve. We fell below our 10 out of 10.

“We know we have an opportunity to redeem ourselves this weekend and the fixture couldn't be better. The Heineken Cup winners; at Ravenhill.

“The next two league games are massive; Leinster at Ravenhill then Munster at Thomond Park. This is our chance to show how far we've come as a team.”

Meanwhile, Brian O'Driscoll skippers the Leinster side and will partner Gordon D'Arcy for Saturday's interprovincial clash.

There's an all-new halfback pairing with Chris Keane starting alongside Shaun Berne, while Girvan Dempsey starts on the right wing with Rob Kearney and Isa Nacewa continuing at full-back and left wing respectively.

In the pack, Ronan McCormack lines up alongside Bernard Jackman and Mike Ross in the front row, with Devin Toner partnering Nathan Hines. The back row remains unchanged.

CJ van der Linde is named amongst a strong replacements panel which includes the likes of Malcolm O'Kelly, Jonathan Sexton and Luke Fitzgerald.

Form: Leinster have lost just one of their past seven visits to Ravenhill since 2000: 28-6 in the League on 7 May 2004. Ulster have claimed victories in three of their last four matches in the Magners League, and have also won three of their last four games against fellow Irish provinces. Leinster have won five of their last six games in all competitions. The Leinstermen have been victorious in their last three away games but have not won four in a row on the road since season 2003/04.

The teams:

Ulster: 15 Clinton Schifcofske, 14 Timoci Nagusa, 13 Darren Cave, 12 Ian Whitten, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Ian Humphreys, 9 Isaac Boss, 8 Chris Henry (c), 7 Willie Faloon, 6 Tamaiti Horua, 5 Ryan Caldwell, 4 Dan Tuohy, 3 Brendon Botha, 2 Nigel Brady, 1 Tom Court.
Replacements: 16 Andy Kyriacou, 17 Bryan Young, 18 Ed O'Donoghue, 19 Robbie Diack, 20 Paul Marshall, 21 Niall O'Connor, 22 Simon Danielli.

Leinster: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Girvan Dempsey, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (c), 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Isa Nacewa, 10 Shaun Berne, 9 Chris Keane, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Kevin McLaughlin, 5 Nathan Hines, 4 Devin Toner, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Bernard Jackman, 1 Ronan McCormack
Replacements: 16 John Fogarty, 17 CJ van der Linde, 18 Malcolm O'Kelly, 19 Stephen Keogh, 20 Simon Keogh, 21 Jonathan Sexton, 22 Luke Fitzgerald.

Referee: Andrew Small (England)
Assistant referees: John Lacey (Ireland), Jude Quinn (Ireland)
Assessor: Brian Stirling (Ireland)
Television match official: John Carvill (Ireland)