Exiles make five changes

London Irish coach Toby Booth has rotated his entire front row for three of the five changes he has made for tomorrow’s opening Heineken Cup fixture with Leinster in Dublin.

An all-international trio of Clarke Dermody, David Paice and Faan Rautenbach will play in the front row with right wing Tom Homer and blindside Richard Thorpe also starting.

Bob Casey, who has made 182 appearances for the club, captains the team on his return to the city where he spent much of his early rugby career.

“We want to measure ourselves against the best teams in Europe and they don’t come much bigger than this just now," said Booth.

"Playing the current champions at home is just the welcome back to the tournament that we wanted.

"Leinster will have the support of a passionate and vociferous home crowd as we know from our visit six weeks ago,"

LONDON IRISH (v Leinster):

15. Peter Hewat; 14. Tom Homer, 13. Elvis Seveali’i, 12. Seilala Mapusua, 11. Sailosi Tagicakibau; 10. Chris Malone, 9. Paul Hodgson; 1. Clarke Dermody, 2. David Paice, 3. Faan Rautenbach, 4. Nick Kennedy, 5. Bob Casey (capt), 6. Declan Danaher, 7. Steffon Armitage, 8. Chris Hala’Ufia.

Replacements

16. Danie Coetzee, 17. Dan Murphy; 18. Paulica Ion; 19. Andy Perry; 20. Richard Thorpe; 21. Jamie Lennard; 22. Ryan Lamb; 23. Alfredo Lalanne.