Tovey comes in for Ceri Sweeny who drops to the bench in one of four changes from the team that started against Toulon last Sunday.
Elsewhere, Dafydd Hewitt starts at centre in place of Gavin Evans who took a knock against the French side while there are also two changes in the pack.
Scott Andrews comes in for Benoit Bourrust in the front row after the French prop was forced off against Toulon with a calf injury. James Down replaces Lou Reed in the second row with the latter dropping to the bench.
Welsh internationals Sam Warburton, Leigh Halfpenny, Alex Cuthbert and Jamie Roberts all start in Dublin prior to joining the Welsh squad for their training camp in Poland.
Harry Robinson is unavailable as he will already have joined up with the Welsh squad.
The Blues will be looking to end a run of four successive defeats but face a tough ask against a Leinster side whose only defeat in any competition since the opening weekend of the new season came at Connacht in round four of the RaboDirect PRO12.
Leinster boast a formidable home record and Cardiff Blues Director of Rugby Phil Davies knows his team face a difficult task.
“To win a Heineken Cup, like they have in the last four years, their strength speaks for itself,” he said.
“They’ve got a pretty multi-faceted team. Their kicking game is well established, their set-piece and their ability to be direct is well established, as is their wide game. So they’ve got a pretty much all round game.
“That is what you need to be as successful as they’ve been in Europe over the last three or four years.”
The Blues have won both of their away games in the PRO12 so far this season, winning at Connacht and the Dragons though they have been beaten by Ulster and Glasgow in their last two home games.
And Davies believes his side will have to front up if they are to get anything from the game.
“We’ve got a big job on our hands and for me the breakdown is going to be the main area of battle,” he added.
“We’ve got to be red hot both in attack and defence.”
