Connacht and Ulster have named their teams for the RaboDirect Pro12 clash at the Sportsground on Saturday.
For the westerners, George Naoupu will don the number eight jersey with John Muldoon moving back to his traditional position at blindside flanker.
Paul Marshall deputises at scrumhalf for Ruan Pienaar who starts as a substitute. There is a new centre combination with Ireland U-20 captain Paddy Jackson partnering Nevin Spence.
Up front, Nigel Brady starts as hooker in place of Rory Best and takes over from Johann Muller as captain.
Connacht - 15 G Duffy (C), 14 T O'Halloran, 13 Kyle Tonetti, 12 Henry Fa'afili, 11 Fetu'u Vainikolo, 10 M Nikora, 9 Frank Murphy
1 Brett Wilkinson, 2 Ethienne Reynecke 3 Ronan Loughney, 4 Michael Swift, 5 Mike McCarthy, 6 John Muldoon, 7 Ray Ofisa, 8 George Naoupu
Ulster - 15 S Terblanche, 14 I Whitten 13 N Spence, 12 P Jackson, 11 A D’Arcy; 10 I Humphreys, 9 P Marshall
1 P McAllister, 2 N Brady (capt), 3 T Court,4 L Stevenson, 5 N McComb, 6 M McComish, 7 W Faloon, 8 R Diack;
Adam D’Arcy and Ian Whitten replace Andrew Trimble and Craig Gilroy on the wings, with the latter dropping to the bench after his try of the season contender in Thomond Park.
Tom Court moves across the scrum to tighthead prop, with Paddy McAllister starting at loosehead. Lewis Stevenson and Neil McComb start together in the second row for the first time.
The game is vital for Ulster’s hopes of finishing in the top four of the RaboDirect PRO12 and a win could send them into second place. They currently occupy fifth spot in the table but are just three points adrift of second placed Ospreys.
Speaking about the Connacht selection, coach Eric Elwood said: "Looking back on our last two performances we had a very good effort against Munster, just not the result we wanted, we had the same team out against the Dragons and to be fair to the boys they were excellent.
"So there are not too many changes, on saying that there's one positional change and it's great to welcome George back for such an important game.
"He's been a big player for us all year so that's a big boost for us .It's great as well to have Johnny O'Connor and Eoin Griffin back for such an important derby match."
