Leinster v Cardiff: Teams

Leinster will be aiming to stay on course to retain their Heineken Cup crown when they welcome Cardiff to a packed Aviva Stadium.

The hosts are looking to match Leicester's achievement of back-to-back European wins in both 2001 and 2002, while they could triumph in the tournament for a third in the space of just four years.

Head coach Joe Schmidt was able to rest some of his star names for last week's 18-9 triumph over Munster in RaboDirect PRO12 action with the game against Cardiff in mind.

Captain Leo Cullen returns this weekend to partner Brad Thorn in the second-row, with Sean O'Brien - who will make his 25th Heineken Cup appearance - coming in alongside Kevin McLaughlin and Jamie Heaslip.

The backline is unchanged with Eoin Reddan partnering Jonathan Sexton - who has amassed 300 points in 27 European appearances - in the half-backs.

South African prop Heinke van der Merwe is named alongside five Ireland internationals on the bench including the likes of Sean Cronin, Shane Jennings and Fergus McFadden.

Injured duo

In contrast, the Blues find themselves without injured Wales duo Sam Warburton and Jamie Roberts, as well as Gavin Henson, who was sacked this week following his drunken behaviour on a flight from Glasgow.

The visitors have named a new-look back row, Xavier Rush returning following the birth of his baby boy to play alongside Martyn Williams and Michael Paterson.

There are also two changes up front, with Marc Breeze starting for the injured Ryan Tyrell and Gethin Jenkins coming in for John Yapp at loosehead.

In the backs, Dafydd Hewitt takes the place of the sidelined Roberts at inside centre and Dan Parks replaces Ceri Sweeney at fly-half.

"It has been documented that Jamie is injured, which is a blow for us, but we have two players, Dafydd Hewitt and Gavin Evans, who have epitomised exactly the culture that Justin and I are trying to develop here," Cardiff Blues backs coach Gareth Baber said.

"Players who want to make sure we go as far as we can as a group and are professional until the end.

"These are two players you need around your group to push them on, you also have people like Gethin Jenkins and Michael Paterson who are ultimate competitors, who want to be recognised for how competitive they are.

"They're solely focused on making sure there is a performance from ourselves at the Aviva."

Leinster: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Isa Nacewa, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Luke Fitzgerald, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Kevin McLaughlin, 5 Brad Thorn, 4 Leo Cullen (capt), 3 Mike Ross, 2 Richardt Strauss, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Heinke van der Merwe, 18 Nathan White, 19 Devin Toner, 20 Shane Jennings, 21 Isaac Boss, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Fergus McFadden.

Cardiff Blues: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Casey Laulala, 12 Dafydd Hewitt, 11 Tom James, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Lloyd Williams, 8 Xavier Rush (capt), 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Michael Paterson, 5 James Down, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Scott Andrews, 2 Marc Breeze, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements: 16 Kristian Dacey, 17 John Yapp, 18 Sam Hobbs, 19 Macauley Cook, 20 Maama Molitika, 21 Richie Rees, 22 Ceri Sweeney, 23 Gavin Evans.