Charlie Ngatai comes straight into the Leinster side after almost four months out as Robbie Henshaw has been ruled out of tomorrow's Champions Cup semi-final against Toulouse.
Former Lyon star Ngatai will partner Garry Ringrose at centre but Henshaw's absence due to a quad niggle he suffered on Monday is a blow to Leo Cullen's side for the Aviva Stadium clash as Leinster look to make the final for the second year running.
With Johnny Sexton still sidelined, James Ryan skippers the province. Speaking at the stadium this afternoon, Toulouse boss Ugo Mola said he was surprised to learn of Henshaw's withdrawal.
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"We talked about Sexton who is injured but Henshaw is not in the lineout and that is a surprise," Mola said. "We know Ngatai because he played quite a long time in France and we know his qualities and he will be able to kick long balls.”
Reigning world player of the year Josh van der Flier returns after injuring his ankle in the last 16 victory over Ulster. Ryan Baird, who replaced van der Flier in the quarter-final against Leicester Tigers and has recovered from a shoulder injury, drops to the bench.
Baird had started at no 6 in the Tigers game but Caelan Doris switches to blindside flanker, with van der Flier playing in his usual openside role.
Jordan Larmour comes onto the wing in place of the injured James Lowe, with Jimmy O'Brien switching from the right to the left flank.
Cian Healy will move into second in Leinster's all-time record holder list when he comes off the bench for his 262nd appearance.
Tournament organisers EPCR have confirmed that there will be an attendance of at least 45,000 for the repeat of last year's semi-final that was won by Leinster - in fact, the Blues haven't lost at home to Toulouse since 1997.
Antoine Dupont captains the Top 14 giants who are boosted by Julien Marchand's return to fitness, but the hooker is named on the bench with his France colleague Peato Mauvaka starting.
Dupont said that revenge wasn't in Toulouse mindset this week.
“No, it is a major semi-final," he said. "We are eager to win this competition.
"We have already won it and we are playing an opponent we know very well at national level and with the club - 90% of this Leinster team play for Ireland and we need to draw lessons from that for tomorrow."
Dupont also reflected on the last two meetings of the sides at Lansdowne Road.
“The context was different and the environment was different," he said.
"We had a young squad, not really experienced, and against a team with a lot of experienced players playing together for a long time. Last year physically we were tired because of extra time when we played Munster so we were a bit tired.
“It was a tiring season for us and we tried to pull out all the stops this season to get a turnover of players.
"So we managed to score points and get a turnover of players so we are fresher, fitter and physically fit and we drew lessons from that defeat and hopefully we don’t repeat our errors."
Mola is looking forward to this battle of the club heavyweights, with the visitors ahead with five final triumphs in the tournament to Leinster's four.
"European supremacy has been shared by those two teams, two clubs, two nations, a lot of victories on both sides," he said.
"But it seems like almost a new competition that we are eager to win, but the others still involved - Leinster, La Rochelle and Exeter Chiefs - are eager to win too.
“I could talk at length about Leinster, they have very many qualities, a lot of assets, they are able to put pressure on their opponents.
"They keep the ball well, they have a lot of kicking abilities, a lot of offensive sequences and don’t concede too many points, and they have good connections among themselves because many of them are playing for Ireland and in the URC together.
“They have a good connection and good mastery of their own rugby. In their championship, they can experiment many times, it allows Leinster not to kick a penalty to try to score points. If we were to do that in France, we would be in a specific, peculiar situation.
"As I said on Tuesday, Toulouse are better day in, day out but, of course, they can put us in a bad patch, but we need to reflect on what we can do because we are Toulouse, not Leinster.
"When you consider this sport then it is about adapting to the opponent and you also need to focus on your own assets and strength.
"Leinster has a command of their rugby and they are perfect in many areas. We need to curb them but stick to our strengths and assets.
"We know what type of game we will play but we will focus on ourselves and hope it will be enough. Ireland versus France was extraordinary in its intensity, one of the best for a long time, and hopefully we can learn lessons from that.
"But whatever happens here I hope we win it.”
Leinster: Hugo Keenan; Jordan Larmour, Garry Ringrose, Charlie Ngatai, Jimmy O'Brien; Ross Byrne, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong; Ross Molony, James Ryan; Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan.
Replacements: John McKee, Cian Healy, Michael Ala'alatoa, Jason Jenkins, Ryan Baird, Luke McGrath, Harry Byrne, Ciarán Frawley.
Toulouse: Thomas Ramos; Juan Cruz Mallia, Pierre-Louis Barassi, Pita Ahki, Matthis Lebel; Romain Ntamack, Antoine Dupont (capt); Cyril Baille, Péato Mauvaka, Dorian Aldegheri; Richie Arnold, Emmanuel Meafou; Jack Willis, Thibaud Flament, Francois Cros.
Replacements: Julian Marchand, Rodrigue Neti, David Ainu'u, Alexandre Roumat, Rynhardt Elstadt, Alban Placines, Paul Graou, Arthur Retiere.
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