Liam Belcher captains Cardiff as their Wales internationals return to face Leinster in the final pre-season friendly in Dublin on Saturday (3pm).

The Blue & Blacks welcome back six of their summer tourists, as well as a number of first team stars as they near the big BKT United Rugby Championship kick-off.

Belcher, who will lead the club again this season, won his first cap in the summer and will bring that experience to an exciting front-row with Rhys Barratt and Javan Sebastian.

Fellow summer tourists Teddy Williams and Alex Mann also start in the pack, while Josh Adams and Cam Winnett are named in the back-three.

The Tallacht Stadium fixture is the Blue & Blacks’ last hit out before they kick-off their league campaign against Emirates Lions on September 27. The friendly is being streamed free of charge by Leinster and can be viewed here. 

It’s the ideal challenge – Sherratt

Cardiff head coach Matt Sherratt said: “Saturday provides a great opportunity to take another step forward to September 27 and the start of the URC season.

“The strength in depth Leinster have is hugely impressive and they are formidable regardless of who they selected. So they present the ideal challenge for us as we look to put more and more of what we have been working on into practice.

“It’s great to have some of our internationals and more senior boys available. We had a good hit out against Richmond but this is a good step up and it’s all about doing more of the good stuff and tweaking and fine tuning the stuff we have to work on.

“It’s also a good opportunity to go away together as a new group to bond and spend some time together before the season starts.”

Japan summer tourist Keiron Assiratti lines-up on the bench, while Alun Lawrence, Johan Mulder, Rory Thornton, Aled Davies and Jacob Beetham are all named in the squad for first time this season.

Cardiff rugby team to face Leinster on Saturday, September 13 (15:00) at Tallaght Stadium, Dublin.

Cardiff Rugby: Cam Winnett; Josh Adams, Harri Millard, Stef Emanuel, Tom Bowen; Callum Sheedy, Johan Mulder; Rhys Barratt, Liam Belcher (capt), Javan Sebastian, Josh McNally, Teddy Williams, Alex Mann, Taine Basham, Alun Lawrence. 

Replacements: Evan Lloyd, Ioan Emanuel, Keiron Assiratti, Rory Thornton, Ben Donnell, Aled Davies, Ioan Lloyd, Jacob Beetham, Dafydd Hughes, Sam Wainwright, Dan Thomas, Ellis Bevan, Osian Darwin-Lewis.