Leinster coach Michael Cheika has stressed the importance of a Magners League win over Glasgow Warriors on Friday night (7.30pm), but it must be achieved without captain Leo Cullen and centre Brian O'Driscoll after the pair were ruled out with collarbone and knee injuries respectively.

The 41-11 win over Wasps in the Heineken Cup last weekend came at the cost of the skipper and his predecessor but there are ever willing replacements in the ranks ahead of the game at Firhill Park as the champions seek to move back up the table after consecutive defeats to Munster and Connacht.

The core of the side that banished Wasps remains, with Felipe Contepomi joined among the backs by Chris Whitaker, Shane Horgan, Jonathan Sexton, Rob Kearney and Luke Fitzgerald.

The 31-man squad named today also contains the emerging talents of Felix Jones, Fergus McFadden and Eoin O'Malley.

Up front Cameron Jowitt, Kevin McLaughlin, Stephen Knoop, Ronan McCormack and Sean O'Brien are included with new signings CJ van der Linde and Rocky Elsom as well as some usual suspects like Bernard Jackman, Malcolm O'Kelly, Shane Jennings and Jamie Heaslip.

Contepomi can top this season's scoring charts if he registers just two points on Friday but such trivial asides will not be of a concern to Cheika. The coach has described this week's fixture and the meeting with the Dragons at the end of next month as "two massive games" before back-to-back European Cup pool games with Castres in December.

"It's important that we always try to play our best, but particularly at this time of year and that's maybe something that we haven't done as well in the past. We will really need to be on-song if we're going to win our next game," said the Australian today.

"We have picked up a few injuries from the Wasps game so I'd say that there'll be squad rotation for this match. They (Glasgow) played well against Toulouse last weekend and they're going to be focused on the domestic competition after losing a few games in Europe.

"We need to win to claw our way back into contention and it's going to take a squad effort. So we're going to have to work hard this week.

Glasgow, he says, have a "great player" in outhalf Dan Parks, while Thom and Max Evans have more to them than just "pace to burn".

"Lome Fa'atau is an exciting player and they have great strength throughout their pack in Alastair Kellock and I think they're a very under-rated side. They finished even higher up the table than a lot of people imagined, and I'd estimate that they'll focus on finishing even higher this year.

"We lost in the last minute up there last year and we know that it's going to be a big game for us. We're going to put everything into context, understand exactly where we are at this stage of the season and push on and improve."

Leinster Squad: Forwards (18): Cian Healy, Ronan McCormack, Stan Wright, Brian Blaney, John Fogarty, Bernard Jackman, Stephen Knoop, CJ van der Linde, Trevor Hogan, Cameron Jowitt, Malcolm O'Kelly, Devin Toner, Rocky Elsom, Stephen Keogh, Shane Jennings, Sean O'Brien, Jamie Heaslip, Kevin McLaughlin. Backs (13): Chris Keane, Chris Whitaker, Jonathan Sexton, Simon Keogh, Fergus McFadden, Felipe Contepomi, Luke Fitzgerald, Eoin O'Malley, Gary Brown, Shane Horgan, Felix Jones, Girvan Dempsey, Rob Kearney