Glasgow v Leinster: Teams
Jonathan Sexton will start at fly-half for Leinster as they travel to Firhill to face Glasgow in the Magners League on Friday.
Last Updated: 24/10/08 2:27pm
Jonathan Sexton will start at fly-half for Leinster as they travel to Firhill to face Glasgow in the Magners League on Friday.
Having taken the sting out of Wasps in the Heineken Cup last week Leinster will be looking for the bulk of that team to continue the good work in the Magners League.
Felipe Contepomi slots in at inside centre, where he partners Luke Fitzgerald, with Girvan Dempsey at full-back. There is however an element of doubt surrounding Dempsey, and a decision on his fitness will be made on the day of the game.
"It's vital that we back up our performance on Friday because our recent Magners League form hasn't been as good as we would have liked," said Dempsey.
"We know that there are areas that we need to improve upon because as the reigning champions, teams are raising their game against us and we have to match them in terms of physicality and hunger.
"They're gunning for us and we know that each and every time we set foot on the field, we have to be on top of our game."
Impact
For Glasgow, Kelly Brown returns to the starting XV in place of Richie Vernon who made his first competitive start for the Warriors this season against Toulouse last week.
That change in the back-row is the only one made by head coach Sean Lineen who is fielding all seven of the Warriors' Scotland squad call-ups for the autumn Tests in the starting XV.
"Kelly came on last weekend and made a huge impact," Sean told the club's official website.
"He's had a little wake-up call but I've been impressed with how he has responded and it's also great to see him back in the Scotland squad.
"As for Richie, he had a taste of the big time last weekend and I was really encouraged by his performance. He certainly wasn't out of his depth in such a massive game."
Looking forward to taking on the reigning league champions at Firhill, Sean added: "We need to build on our form from last Friday; all we need is a different end result.
"The crowd was fantastic once again and with Leinster setting the pace in the Heineken Cup we need the same level of noise from the Jackie Husband stand this week."
Leinster: 15 Girvan Dempsey, 14 Shane Horgan, 13 Luke Fitzgerald, 12 Felipe Contepomi, 11 Rob Kearney, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Chris Whitaker (c), 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Shane Jennings, 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 Malcolm O'Kelly, 4 Devin Toner, 3 Stan Wright, 2 John Fogarty, 1 Cian Healy
Replacements: (From) Brian Blaney, CJ van der Linde, Trevor Hogan, Stephen Keogh, Sean O'Brien, Chris Keane, Gary Brown, Simon Keogh.
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Bernardo Stortoni, 14 Lome Fa'atau, 13 Max Evans, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Thom Evans, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Mark McMillan; 1 Kevin Tkachuk, 2 Dougie Hall, 3 Ed Kalman, 4 Dan Turner, 5 Alastair Kellock (capt), 6 Kelly Brown, 7 John Barclay, 8 Johnnie Beattie.
Replacements: from: Pat MacArthur*, Moray Low, Tim Barker, Stevie Swindall, Richie Vernon, Colin Gregor, Ruaridh Jackson, Andrew Henderson, Hefin O'Hare.