Hickie at fullback for Leinster

Celtic League previews/Leinster v Border Reivers: The next chapter in Leinster's season will be penned tonight at their spiritual home, six days after the heroics of the Recreation Ground victory.

Coach Michael Cheika won't countenance anything other than victory against the Border Reivers, determined as he is there will be no hangover from the Heineken European Cup.

The last time Leinster came off a European fixture, they lost miserably in their next Celtic League outing and Cheika won't accept a repeat tonight.

Given the absence of several frontline players in the back line, Cheika and David Knox have reshuffled their resources, and arguably the most interesting outcome is the positioning of Denis Hickie at fullback. The Irish wing excelled in the position in his school days and will probably relish the opportunity to stretch his legs in less cluttered corridors.

There is plenty of pace and footballing ability in the back three with Gary Brown and Rob Kearney on the wings, while Kieran Lewis gets a chance in his favoured outside centre position alongside Johnny Hepworth.

There are two changes to the front five with Emmett Byrne starting at tighthead prop and Adam Byrnes coming into the secondrow. Eric Miller is named at blindside flanker in place of the injured Cameron Jowitt.

While the replacements' bench has not been finalised it is heartening to see Cheika put his faith in two tyros, outhalf Jonathan Sexton and 6ft 10ins lock Devin Toner, both of whom will definitely tog out.

Steve Bates, head coach of the Border Reivers, has made six changes from the side who beat L'Aquila 39-23 in the European Challenge Cup last Saturday.

Geoff Cross comes into the frontrow as does hooker Ross Ford with Paul Thomson captaining the team from loosehead prop.

Former Ulster secondrow Mark Blair drops to the replacements to make way for Opeta Palepoi, who is recovering from an inflamed knee. In the backrow John Dalziel drops down to the bench, as does Andy Rennick.

Kelly Brown moves from openside to blindside flanker while Samoan international Semo Sititi reclaims his place following a knee injury. The only change in the back division sees Charlie Hore replace James King in the number 10 jersey.

The Border Reivers were once considered an easy touch but that's no longer the case. They too have been hampered by the absence of national squad players.

The Borders have won three of their last four matches in all competitions but have lost four on the bounce away from home.

Playing at the RDS has been a huge success on every level for Leinster: tonight's return to Donnybrook will be instructive not least in terms of crowd figures. Several of the home side are playing for contracts.

Leinster A's recent hammering at the hands of the Ireland under-21 team did not sit easily with Cheika and the players were told in no uncertain terms.

LEINSTER: D Hickie; G Brown, K Lewis, J Hepworth, R Kearney; F Contepomi (capt), G Easterby; R Corrigan, B Blaney, E Byrne; A Byrnes, B Williams; E Miller, K Gleeson, J Heaslip. Replacements: D Blaney, R McCormack, D Toner, N Ronan, B O'Riordan/B O'Meara, J Sexton, E Hickey/B Burke.

BORDER REIVERS: C MacRae; S Moffat, B MacDougall, G Law, N Walker, C Hore, B McKerchar; P Thomson (capt), R Ford, G Cross; S MacLeod, O Palepoi; K Brown, A Miller, S Sititi. Replacements: S Scott, T McGee, M Parr, J Dalziel, J Weston, A Rennick, J King.

Referee: Phil Fear (Wales).

Recent meetings: September 2002 (CL) at Netherdale: Border Reivers 23 Leinster 18; October 2003 (CL) at Netherdale: Border Reivers 21 Leinster 26; March 2004 (CL) at Donnybrook: Leinster 35 Border Reivers 12; September 2004 (CL) at Donnybrook: Leinster 50 Border Reivers 13; January 2005 (CL) at Netherdale: Border Reivers 29 Leinster 16.

Leading points scorers: Leinster - Felipe Contepomi 155. Border Reivers - Charlie Hore 104.

Leading try scorers: Leinster - Contepomi, Gordon D'Arcy, Rob Kearney, Girvan Dempsey 3 each. Border Reivers - Nikki Walker 3.