Munster v Leinster: Teams

Leinster have made two changes to their team to face rivals Munster in Saturday's all-Irish Heineken Cup semi final at Croke Park.

Leo Cullen comes back into the side after missing Leinster's 36-13 victory over Glasgow and the club skipper will partner Malcolm O'Kelly in the second row.

Shane Horgan starts on the right wing with Isa Nacewa moving to full-back in place of Girvan Dempsey, who suffered a knock during the week which limited his training.

However, the Irishman has recovered sufficiently to take his place on the bench with Simon Keogh also back from injury to take his place amongst the replacements.

Brian O'Driscoll lines up at centre alongside Gordon D'Arcy, while Australian international Rocky Elsom starts in the back-row alongside Ireland duo Shane Jennings and Jamie Heaslip.

Flanker Jennings believes the "whole of Ireland" will rank Leinster as underdogs when the two sides line-up at Croke Park.

Massive task

He said: "Each team pretty much knows what to expect from the other, but the whole of Ireland will quite rightly regard us as the underdogs.

"We have a massive task ahead of us in taking on the champions of Europe, and playing in Dublin is no great advantage to us either.

"The majority of the Munster boys know Croke Park well and have been successful there, so it is of no additional benefit for us."

Munster, fresh from seeing eight of their stars - Paul O'Connell, Jerry Flannery, Donncha O'Callaghan, Alan Quinlan, David Wallace, Tomas O'Leary, Ronan O'Gara and Keith Earls - included in the British and Irish Lions squad will be aiming to successfully defend their crown.

However, their hopes have been hit by the loss of O'Leary, who will be sidelined for the rest of the season, as well as the Lions' summer tour to South Africa, with a broken ankle.

Peter Stringer will start at number nine, resuming his successful partnership with fly-half Ronan O'Gara.

The two-time champions thrashed the Ospreys 43-9 at Thomond Park in the quarter-finals and go into the match as clear favourites to reach the final in Murrayfield on May 23.

Munster won 30-6 at Landsdowne Road on the road to their first Heineken glory while Leinster have lost all their three previous semi-finals back in 1996, 2003 and 2006.

Munster: 15 Paul Warwick, 14 Doug Howlett, 13 Keith Earls, 12 Lifeimi Mafi, 11 Ian Dowling, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Denis Leamy, 7 David Wallace, 6 Alan Quinlan, 5 Paul O'Connell (capt), 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Jerry Flannery, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements: 16 Denis Fogarty, 17 Tony Buckley, 18 Mick O'Driscoll, 19 Niall Ronan, 20 Mike Prendergast, 21 Barry Murphy, 22 Denis Hurley.

Leinster: 15 Isa Nacewa, 14 Shane Horgan, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Luke Fitzgerald, 10 Felipe Contepomi, 9 Chris Whitaker, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Shane Jennings, 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 Malcolm O'Kelly, 4 Leo Cullen (capt), 3 Stan Wright, 2 Bernard Jackman, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 John Fogarty, 17 Ronan McCormack, 18 Devin Toner, 19 Sean O'Brien, 20 Simon Keogh, 21 Jonathan Sexton, 22 Girvan Dempsey.