London Wasps v Leinster: Now this truly will be intriguing. The presence of so many gamebreakers merely adds to the fascination of what promises to be an absorbing tactical duel. Wasps and Leinster could, curiously, almost be designed to maximise damage to the other, and at various points most probably both will.
Amid the high-octane, high-tempo exchanges, on the one hand, there is the tremulous thought of Wasps bossing the physical collisions, keeping possession ad nauseum and forcing Leinster onto the back foot interminably.
Speaking on arrival in London yesterday, Michael Cheika admitted: "If we let them get on top they can really keep the ball for long periods and you can become mesmerised into ball watching."
Aside from the need, therefore, for securing their own set-piece possession, for big impact tackles and the pilfering skills of Keith Gleeson, Gordon D'Arcy and co, then there is the clash, literally, of Wasps' famed blitz/umbrella defence and perhaps the most daring, on-the-gain-line attacking backline in Europe. It will be all-or-nothing.
"We mustn't panic," concedes Cheika. "We need to generate phase ball because they can be very dangerous and destructive. But they're going to get us a few times behind the gain line and we've got to make sure we can recover from that."
Aside for preparing for that on the training ground, Cheika has maximised the advantage of having a hit-out last weekend, whereas Wasps were idle. The only change from the squad for the 30-21 win over Connacht sees Reggie Corrigan edge out Fosi Pala'amo from the bench. The old warhorse is thus set to equal Shane Byrne's all-time Leinster record of 135 appearances for the province, on a day when D'Arcy will make his 50th Heineken European Cup appearance while Jamie Heaslip will reach his half-century of games for the province.
Unsurprisingly, the silver fox Ian McGeechan has recalled an old dog for the hard road in Lawrence Dallaglio rather than opt for the trio which started England's most recent Six Nations game en bloc in Cardiff. James Haskell thus drops to the bench, where there is no room for the Connacht-bound Johnny O'Connor or the London Irish-bound Jeremy Staunton.
Even so, the Wasps pack contains five forwards to have played for England in the championship this season, the French captain Raphael Ibanez, and memories of Gloucester doing a number on the Leinster pack in their concluding pool encounter won't go away, all the more so with Nigel Owens again the referee.
But unlike that night, the forecast is for a dry if cloudy evening, and Wasps don't have particularly renowned set-pieces, having conceded more of their own put-ins and more of their own throws than anyone else in this season's Premiership. Malcolm O'Kelly's return, even if he may not have 80 minutes in him, is all the more welcome.
Dallaglio mirrors his team to some extent, not quite the force of yore, but still a big-occasion outfit, especially on home soil. Unusually meek on many of their travels, only their annual bugbear Leicester have beaten them in a dozen competitive matches at High Wycombe this season, and they've lost only twice in their last 32 competitive games at home. The selection of the arch spoiler indicates their desire to frustrate Leinster.
The livewire Eoin Reddan will dictate their tempo along with Alex King, and in addition to their host of versatile strike runners there are few better impact replacements around than Ayoola Erinle.
Nonetheless, the advent of Kieran Lewis as a straight replacement for Brian O'Driscoll should not unduly destabilise Leinster's attacking balance and should not weaken them defensively. It will be fascinating to see if Leinster and Felipe Contepomi go against type by occasionally applying more depth and width and outflank the Wasps defence a la Leicester. More likely they'll roll the dice.
With the Puma's own running threat, his chips and catches, crosskicks and the ability of D'Arcy, Horgan and co to keep the ball in their hands until the last second they can unlock the defence for the supporting Gleeson to be on hand.
The presence of over 3,000 Leinster supporters echoes the epic quarter-final in Toulouse exactly a year ago and in such a tight 10,000-capacity ground this is, proportionately, just as significant. They can help Leinster through times of duress, and there are sure to be some of those.
Indeed, one can envisage quite a wildly fluctuating encounter. Though as hard to call as any of the quarter-final match-ups, it may not necessarily come down to a score, with the winners just as liable to pull clear by a score or two. Leinster have more about them and, if they keep their nerve, have the gamebreakers and the preparedness of an astute coaching staff to be pro-active enough to actually go and win the game.
Whatever else, it won't be dull.
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales).
Results so far: Wasps - 19-13 v Castres (h); 12-19 v Perpignan (a), 55-0 v Treviso (h), 71-5 v Treviso (a), 22-14 v Perpignan (h), 16-13 v Castres (a).
Leinster - 37-20 v Gloucester (h), 24-25 v Edinburgh (a), 26-10 v Agen (h), 25-13 v Agen (a), 49-10 v Edinburgh (h), 13-19 v Gloucester (a).
Match betting (Paddy Power): 8/13 Wasps, 22/1 Draw, 5/4 Leinster. Handicap betting (= Leinster +3pts) 10/11 Wasps, 20/1 Draw, 10/11 Leinster.
Forecast: Leinster to win.
