Wounded Lions look to reserves

THE toll of the past two weeks has seen Joe Schmidt take an axe to his Leinster side and make seven changes for the visit of Ulster this evening.

The New Zealander and his team have talked all week about naming the strongest possible team for this clash, which could determine their Magners League future, but after battles with Munster and Leicester he was forced to leave key players out and bring in fresh faces.

Having taken heavy knocks in last weekend’s Heineken Cup quarter-final win over Leicester, Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy are replaced by Eoin O’Malley and Fergus McFadden in the centre, with neither man among the replacements.