Leinster v Scarlets: Teams

Leinster are without their Ireland contingent for the Magners League meeting with the Scarlets at the RDS on Saturday.

Shane Jennings will captain the depleted side and is one of five internationals named in the pack for the game.

He forms an exciting looking back-row alongside Kevin McLaughlin and Sean O'Brien. Devin Toner is at lock alongside Malcolm O'Kelly who will make his 177th Leinster appearance.

Bernard Jackman is named at hooker with Stan Wright and CJ van der Linde both named at prop.

Eoin Reddan partners Jonathan Sexton at half-back and Shane Horgan (175th cap) and full-back Girvan Dempsey (167th) are named in the back three alongside Bank of Ireland Leinster Player of the Month Isa Nacewa. Shaun Berne partners Fergus McFadden at centre.

Meanwhile, the Scarlets are reunited with Wales trio Martin Roberts, Jonathan Davies and recently called-up Ken Owens for their key Magners League match.

After Leinster did the double on the Scarlets in the Heineken Cup in December, Nigel Davies' side will be looking to put the record straight.

Strong squad

Scrum-half Martin Roberts starts with the exciting centre partnership of Davies and Regan King reunited for the first time in a year. King starts in his second game for the region after returning from a long-term hamstring injury.

And Scarlets head coach Nigel Davies has given impressive young full-back Dan Newton his first opportunity to start for the region.

Newton, 20, has been showing success with the boot in recent games in the Premiership with Llanelli RFC. Daniel Evans moves from full-back to the wing.

David Lyons captains the side for the away fixture against the Irish giants on Saturday evening with Magners League points vital to the Scarlets in their bid to climb the table and secure their place in Europe next season.

"Leinster are a strong squad and have depth, even without a number of their internationals and that's what you need to be successful as a team. It will be a big challenge for us but we'll look forward to a good game out there, we've been going pretty well in the past month," said Davies.

"If you look at our season so far considering where we have come from, we can been reasonably happy with what we achieved, as runners-up in our group in the Heineken Cup and joint top of the LV=Cup pool.

"We need to concentrate on results in the Magners League now, we've come close a number of times in our Magners games, shown by the number of losing bonus points we've secured. We now have to turn those performances into results."

Leinster: 15 Girvan Dempsey, 14 Shane Horgan, 13 Fergus McFadden, 12 Shaun Berne, 11 Isa Nacewa, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Sean O'Brien, 7 Shane Jennings (capt), 6 Kevin McLaughlin, 5 Malcolm O'Kelly, 4 Devin Toner, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 Bernard Jackman, 1 Stan Wright.
Replacements from: John Fogarty, Richardt Strauss, Mike Ross, Trevor Hogan, Stephen Keogh, Simon Keogh, Paul O'Donohoe, Eoin O'Malley, Andrew Conway.

Scarlets: 15 Dan Newton, 14 Daniel Evans, 13 Regan King, 12 Jon Davies 11 Andy Fenby, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Martin Roberts, 8 David Lyons (capt), 7 Johnathan Edwards, 6 Rob McCusker, 5 Damian Welch, 4 Dominic Day, 3 Deacon Manu, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Iestyn Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Phil John, 17 Emyr Phillips, 18 Rhys Thomas, 19 Vernon Cooper, 20 Josh Turnbull , 21 Tavis Knoyle, 22 Gareth Maule.