Leinster v L Irish: Teams

Defending champions Leinster have made just one change to their line-up for the Heineken Cup opener against London Irish.

Leinster have called Ireland international Mike Ross into the front-row to cover for the injured Stan Wright.

That means South African CJ van der Linde is named on the bench and should make his first appearance of the season.

With a tough start to their defence, Leinster have named a strong-looking line-up with 13 Irish qualified players, as well as Scotland and Lions lock Nathan Hines and New Zealander Isa Nacewa in the starting XV.

London Irish head coach Toby Booth has made five changes to his line-up for the trip to Dublin.

The club's policy of squad rotation means that the all international trio of Clarke Dermody, David Paice and Faan Rautenbach come into the front row, while Declan Danaher replaces Richard Thorpe in the back row.

The other change sees Tom Homer start on the right wing in place of the injured Adam Thompstone.

And Booth knows that his side have been handed the toughest opener to their European challenge - particulary as Leinster have won their 11 previous Heineken Cup games at home.

"We're delighted to be back in the Heineken Cup," Booth told the club's official website.

"We want to measure ourselves against the best teams in Europe and they don't come much bigger than this just now. Playing the current champions at home is just the welcome back to the tournament that we wanted!

"Leinster will have the support of a passionate and vociferous home crowd as we know from our visit six weeks ago.

"Our players have worked hard in training this week and prepared well. They are aware that many hundreds of supporters are travelling to Dublin and will want to give them plenty to cheer about tomorrow night."

Leinster 15 Isa Nacewa, 14 Shane Horgan, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Luke Fitzgerald, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Eoin Reddan, 1 Cian Healy, 2 John Fogarty, 3 Mike Ross, 4 Leo Cullen, 5 Nathan Hines, 6 Kevin McLaughlin, 7 Shane Jennings, 8 Jamie Heaslip.
Replacements: 16 Bernard Jackman, 17 Ronan McCormack, 18 CJ van der Linde, 19 Malcolm O'Kelly, 20 Sean O'Brien, 21 Simon Keogh, 22 Shaun Berne, 23 Rob Kearney

London Irish: 15 Peter Hewat, 14 Tom Homer, 13 Elvis Seveali'i, 12 Seilala Mapusua, 11 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 10 Chris Malone, 9 Paul Hodgson, 1 Clarke Dermody, 2 David Paice, 3 Faan Rautenbach, 4 Nick Kennedy, 5 Bob Casey, 6 Declan Danaher, 7 Steffon Armitage, 8 Chris Hala'Ufia.
Replacements: 16 Danie Coetzee, 17 Dan Murphy, 18 Paulica Ion, 19 Andy Perry, 20 Richard Thorpe, 21 Jamie Lennard, 22 Ryan Lamb, 23 Alfredo Lalanne.