Glasgow coach Gregor Townsend has named his line-up to take on PRO12 champions Leinster at Scotstoun on Friday night (kick off 8.30pm South African Time). In total Gregor Townsend has made five changes and one positional switch to the side that defeated Ulster at Ravenhill last Friday.

glasgowwarriors

Alex Dunbar, Jon Welsh, Chris Fusaro, Richie Vernon and Chris Cusiter come into the starting XV, with Sean Lamont moving from centre to wing.

Stuart Hogg keeps his place at full-back, with Sean Lamont and DTH van der Merwe occupying the wings. Mark Bennett and Alex Dunbar combine at centre, with Ruaridh Jackson and Chris Cusiter forming the half-back partnership.

The only change to the front row is the inclusion of Jon Welsh in place of Ed Kalman, alongside Pat MacArthur and Ryan Grant.

19-year-old Jonny Gray and Tim Swinson will continue to combine in the second-row, while only Robert Harley keeps his place in the backrow, with Richie Vernon coming in at number eight and Chris Fusaro starting at openside.

The Warriors have won their last eight fixtures at Scotstoun in all competitions, since French Top 14 champions Castres Olympique beat them in the Heineken Cup last December. More than 5,000 tickets have already been sold for tomorrow night’s game with just standing tickets now remaining.

Glasgow Warriors head coach Gregor Townsend said: “We’re delighted to have won our first two games of the season but we’ll need to raise our level of performance against Leinster.

“They have been consistently one of the leading teams in Europe for some time now and have only lost once in their last 20 games. It will require one of our very best performances in order to win on Friday.

“There wasn’t much between the sides last season and we came close to winning on a couple of occasions. We learned a great deal from those games; how we will have to work hard for 80 minutes and take any opportunities that come our way.

“Our intensity at training has gone up a notch this week and the players are very focused on what is a highly anticipated match.

“We’re all really pleased to see Chris Cusiter back involved again after his injury lay-off, and as captain he will undoubtedly have a big role to play.

“Our supporters were fantastic in our opening game against Cardiff and they helped us get the win that night. It looks like we’re heading for another sell-out at Scotstoun, which is great news for the club and we’re all looking forward to the game.”

Glasgow Warriors

15 Stuart Hogg 14 Sean Lamont 13 Mark Bennett 12 Alex Dunbar 11 DTH van der Merwe 10 Ruaridh Jackson 9 Chris Cusiter (Captain)
1 Ryan Grant 2 Pat MacArthur 3 Jon Welsh 4 Jonny Gray 5 Tim Swinson 6 Robert Harley 7 Chris Fusaro 8 Richie Vernon

Replacements: 16 Dougie Hall 17 Jerry Yanuyanutawa 18 Ed Kalman 19 James Eddie 20 Josh Strauss 21 Henry Pyrgos 22 Scott Wight 23 Byron McGuigan.

Not available due to injury: Michael Cusack (shoulder), Peter Horne (knee), Alastair Kellock (ankle), Nikola Matawalu (foot), Tom Ryder (head) and Ryan Wilson (shoulder)

Leinster

15 Ian Madigan 14 Dave Kearney 13 Brendan Macken 12 Gordon D’Arcy 11 Darragh Fanning 10 Jimmy Gopperth 9 Isaac Boss
1 Jack McGrath 2 Richardt Strauss 3 Mike Ross 4 Mike McCarthy 5 Tom Denton 6 Kevin McLaughlin 7 Shane Jennings (Captain) 8 Jordi Murphy

Replacements: 16 Aaron Dundon 17 Cian Healy 18 Martin Moore 19 Devin Toner 20 Dominic Ryan 21 Eoin Reddan 22 Noel Reid 23 Rob Kearney.