Brian O'Driscoll has been ruled out of the Amlin Challenge Cup final between Leinster and Stade Francais in Dublin tomorrow night.
O'Driscoll, part of a 37-man British and Irish Lions squad for the forthcoming tour to Hong Kong and Australia, suffered a back spasm during Leinster's RaboDirect PRO12 victory over Glasgow last weekend.
He did not report for the Lions' initial gathering in London three days ago, yet Leinster were hopeful he would recover in time to face Stade.
But O'Driscoll, whose new one-year contract with the IRFU was announced earlier today, has lost his fitness race, with Fergus McFadden and Ian Madigan forging Leinster's midfield partnership.
Four other Lions - full-back Rob Kearney, fly-half Jonathan Sexton, flanker Sean O'Brien and number eight Jamie Heaslip - all start against Stade.
Isaac Boss will make his 75th Leinster appearance and he is paired at half-back alongside Sexton, while Andrew Conway joins Isa Nacewa and Rob Kearney in the outside back slots.
Leo Cullen is included on an a bench which includes the likes of fellow international forwards Cian Healy, Shane Jennings and Richardt Strauss.
Leinster team: Rob Kearney, Andrew Conway, Fergus McFadden, Ian Madigan, Isa Nacewa, Jonathan Sexton, Isaac Boss, Jack McGrath, Sean Cronin, Mike Ross, Quinn Roux, Devin Toner, Rhys Ruddock, Sean O’Brien, Jamie Heaslip
Replacemanets: Richardt Strauss, Cian Healy, Jamie Hagan, Leo Cullen, Shane Jennings, John Cooney, Andrew Goodman,Dave Kearney
Stade Francais: Jérôme Porical; Jeremy Sinzelle, Geoffrey Doumayrou, Paul Williams, Hugo Bonneval; Jules Plisson, Julien Dupuy; Aled De Malmanche, Laurent Sempere, Rabah Slimani, Scott Lavalla, Gerhard Mostert, David Lyons, Pierre Rabadan, Sergio Parisse (c).
Replacements: Remy Bonfils, Stanley Wright, Jeremy Becasseau, Anton van Zyl, Lei Tomiki, Waisea Nayacalevu, Julien Arias, Paul Warwick.
LIVE: AMLIN CUP FINAL
Live radio coverage of Leinster v Stade Francais on Game On from 19:00 on Friday 17 May on RTÉ 2fm and RTÉ.ie (Worldwide).
