In the backs Dan Fish comes in for Chris Czekaj who misses the match with a shoulder injury and Richard Mustoe in for Tom James who is out with a calf strain.
Other changes in the backs see Dafydd Hewitt and Richie Rees starting with Casey Laulala and Lewis Jones dropping down to the bench.
There are three changes in the forwards with Andries Pretorius recovered from a knee injury and starting at 8, with Rush moving to the bench. Maama Molitika moves from blindside to openside in place of the injured Martyn Williams. Michael Paterson moves from the second row to the backrow. Deiniol Jones starts in the second row.
Munster returned to the top of the table and stretched their record breaking winning run to 13 matches against Scarlets on Saturday. They have conceded only one try in their last six matches and have now gone 322 minutes without having their defences breached, and Baber acknowledges they are a quality team even without their internationals,
“Similar to Ulster, all Munster sides are very disciplined and structured,” said Baber. “They will be physical and want to play in the right areas by implementing a good kicking game.”
“They will try to use their physicality and we have to match that and put our game in place.”
Having recorded two bonus point wins in their opening two matches, the Blues lost their place at the top of the RaboDirect PRO12 table following their 3-20 defeat at Ulster on Friday.
The Blues have won just one of their last four matches against Irish provinces and suffered a double defeat to Munster last season However, Baber feels that if they play to their potential the Blues can defeat the champions.
“It will be a tough match, but that’s the level at which we are playing. We are at home so we’ve got to go out there with real intensity and aggression.”
‘There are new systems in place that the players are still learning, but we need them to come out and be at the top level on Friday.”
“The players we have here are quite capable of doing that, so we’re looking forward to a good tight battle.”
Blues 15 Dan Fish 14 Alex Cuthbert 13 Gavin Evans 12 Dafydd Hewitt 11 Richard Mustoe 10 Ceri Sweeney 9 Richie Rees 8 Andries Pretorius 7 Maama Molitika 6 Michael Paterson
5 Deiniol Jones 4 Paul Tito (C) 3 Scott Andrews 2 T Rhys Thomas 1 Sam Hobbs
Replacements: 16 Rhys Williams 17 Nathan Trevett 18 Ryan Harford 19 Xavier Rush 20 Thomas Young 21 Lewis Jones 22 Rhys Patchell 23 Casey Laulala
