Director of Rugby Mark Hammett has made seven changes to the side who went down 26-9 to Ulster at the BT Sport Arms Park last weekend.
Three come in the pack with Kristian Dacey set to make his 50th appearance for the region alongside Jenkins in the front-row. British & Irish Lions captain Sam Warburton returns at open-side flanker and Chris Dicomidis replaces the injured Filo Paulo in the second-row.
Flying wing George Watkins is rewarded with a start for his red-hot form in the blue and black of Cardiff RFC, where he has scored five tries in just two games. Cory Allen and Dafydd Hewitt form a new centre partnership after Gavin Evans picked up a knock in last Friday’s defeat, with Adam Thomas dropping to the bench.
Australia second-row Kane Douglas will make his first start in a Leinster shirt following his switch from Super Rugby’s Waratahs, and experienced international Gordon D’Arcy gets his first action of the season in midfield.
Hammett’s men go into the game having suffered back-to-back defeats to Glasgow and Ulster. And if they are to see a turn-around in form, they will have to become the first Welsh side since the Ospreys in 2012 to claim victory at the RDS. But the reigning PRO12 kings have also struggled for form in the opening three rounds of action. They bounced back from their last-ditch 22-20 defeat to Glasgow by picking up a bonus-point victory against the Scarlets, but suffered a shock in Galway as Connacht edged past them 10-9.
Hammett said: “Leinster are the champions with an extremely strong side and have a very powerful squad. We are certainly looking forward to the challenge that we will face over in Dublin. The atmosphere will be big over there and we have to be ready for that.
“We are working exceptionally hard every week in training to improve and I felt our attack was much better last week. But we are not finishing out chances when they are there and we created some good opportunities and drew penalties. We need to get across the line.”
Cardiff Blues: R Patchell, A Cuthbert, C Allen, D Hewitt, G Watkins, G Davies, L Jones; G Jenkins, K Dacey, A Jones, J Hoeata, C Dicomidis, J Turnbull, S Warburton, J Navidi (c).
Replacements: M Rees, S Hobbs, T Filise, M Cook, M Vosawai, T Knoyle, A Thomas, D Fish.
Leinster: R Kearney, F McFadden, G D’Arcy, I Madigan, D Fanning, J Gopperth, E Reddan; M Bent, S Cronin, M Moore, D Toner, K Douglas, R Ruddock, D Ryan, J Heaslip (c).
Replacements: B Byrne, E Byrne, T Furlong, M McCarthy, J Conan, L McGrath, S Crosbie, M McGrath.
