The Argentine, who has not started for Leinster since injuring his knee while playing for the Pumas in the autumn, will form a halfback partnership with Chris Whitaker tomorrow.

Also in the backs winger Shane Horgan is rested and replaced by Kieran Lewis.

The two changes in the pack are the introduction of Cameron Jowitt in place of Trevor Hogan and Stanley Wright for injured prop Ronan McCormack.

Ross McCarron is named on a strong looking bench alongside the likes of Hogan, Reggie Corrigan, Owen Finegan and Guy Easterby. Contepomi's deputy of late, Jonathan Sexton, is also named among the replacements.

Ospreys coach Lyn Jones has not had the easiest of preparations for the game with 14 players ruled out through injury, but he takes comfort in the fact that his side has a respectable record in Dublin.

"Winning against Leinster in Ireland has proved difficult for all of the Welsh regions. Indeed, we were the last region to have enjoyed any success in Donnybrook and that was almost two years ago," said Jones.

"When you strive to play rugby at the highest level you want to be tested against the very best players, and Leinster will be offering that on Saturday."

"The Christmas period has had a massive impact on our injury situation, and we now have fourteen players unavailable. It was always our intention to rotate the squad over these few weeks, but the enforced changes have made this weekends selection even more difficult.

"Having said that we have always performed well at Donnybrook and we have enjoyed our previous visits to the ground."

LEINSTER:15: Rob Kearney, 14: Kieran Lewis, 13: Brian O'Driscoll CAPTAIN,12: Gordon D'Arcy, 11: Denis Hickie, 10: Felipe Contepomi, 9: Chris Whitaker, 1: Stanley Wright, 2: Bernard Jackman, 3: Will Green, 4: Cameron Jowitt, 5: Malcolm O'Kelly, 6: Stephen Keogh, 7: Keith Gleeson, 8: Jamie Heaslip

REPLACEMENTS:16: Reggie Corrigan, 17: Harry Vermaas, 18: Owen Finegan, 19: Trevor Hogan, 20: Guy Easterby, 21: Jonathan Sexton, 22: Ross McCarron

OSPREYS: 15 Stefan Terblanche, 14 Jonathan Vaughton, 13 Tal Selley, 12 Andrew Bishop, 11 Richard Mustoe, 10 Shaun Connor, 9 Martin Roberts; 8 Andy Lloyd, 7 Richard Pugh, 6 Lee Beach, 5 Michael Powell, 4 Brent Cockbain, 3 Andrew Millward, 2 Ed Shervington, 1 Paul James (Capt)

REPLACEMENTS: 16 Barry Williams, 17 Adam Jones, 18 Chris Martenko, 19 Ben Lewis, 20 Jason Spice 21 Nikki Walker, 22 AN Other (back)

REFEREE:Malcolm Changleng (SRU)* Note change