Ireland trio Girvan Dempsey, Trevor Hogan and Mike Ross come into the team for the trip to Galway in a side that includes nine Ireland internationals in all in the starting line-up.

Dempsey starts at full-back and Shane Horgan and Isa Nacewa continue on the wings, while Ireland 'A' back Fergus McFadden will partner fellow former Clongowes man Gordon D'Arcy at centre.

Eoin Reddan continues his half-back partnership with Shaun Berne. In the pack, Nathan Hines has recovered from injury to take his place in the back-row alongside Sean O'Brien and Stephen Keogh.

The replacements bench will be confirmed closer to kick off.

CONNACHT: T Nathan; L Bibo, N Ta’auso, K Matthews, F Carr; I Keatley, F Murphy; R Loughney, S Cronin, R Morris; M McCarthy, B Upton, J Muldoon CAPTAIN, R Ofisa, G Naoupu

REPLACEMENTS: A Flavin, J Hagan, M Swift, A Browne, C O’Loughlin, M Nikora, A Wynne

LEINSTER:

15: Girvan Dempsey
14: Shane Horgan
13: Fergus McFadden
12: Gordon D'Arcy
11: Isa Nacewa
10: Shaun Berne
9: Eoin Reddan

1: Stan Wright
2: Bernard Jackman
3: Mike Ross
4: Leo Cullen CAPTAIN
5: Trevor Hogan
6: Nathan Hines
7: Sean O'Brien
8: Stephen Keogh

REPLACEMENTS FROM: 16: Richardt Strauss, 17: Ronan McCormack, 18: Devin Toner, 19: Kevin McLaughlin, 20: Paul Ryan, 21: Paul O'Donohoe, 22: Simon Keogh, 23: David Kearney

REFEREE: Peter Fitzgibbon (IRFU), ASSISTANT REFEREES: D. Wilkinson (IRFU), M. Black (IRFU), TMO: Bertie Smith (IRFU)