Hope springs eternal and all that: partly based on the premise that Leinster are seemingly at their most dangerous when supposed no-hopers at home (remember Leicester), the pride of Donnybrook will drink fervently at the last chance saloon in tonight's (5.30) Heineken Cup tie at home to Stade Francais.
A victory against the crack Parisians, coupled with Leicester beating Glasgow Caledonians in Welford Road tomorrow would leave all four teams locked on four points after four rounds, and theoretically leave everything in the melting pot.
Even then, Leinster would also have to beat Glasgow at home in the new year and then storm the Welford Road fortress to have any hope of progress. It's a long shot, and deep down Leinster know it.
However, pride will ensure that the home team will not lack motivation as they try to avenge three successive defeats to Stade in the last two seasons, culminating in the 39-6 defeat of last week when Stade ran in three tries in the last six minutes.
The Leinster pack competed well that day and accordingly remained unchanged when the team was announced yesterday. However, short-term injuries to Girvan Dempsey (shoulder) and Derek Hegarty (neck), some slipshod tackling by Gordon D'Arcy last week and the never-ending out-half conundrum results in four changes amongst the backs.
Peter McKenna, John McWeeney and Stu Forster return at full back, wing and scrum-half, and Emmet Farrell is finally given his first competitive start for the province at out-half after three fleeting appearances as a replacement. It was always going to be a lot to ask of Mark McHugh that he solve the problem at number 10, despite being the match-winner against Leicester and accumulating 58 points in his four starts.
"He's young and he did a fine job when he was called in, and he's by no means written off," said Leinster manager Ken Ging, emphasising that coach Mike Ruddock was keen to look at new combinations. "He felt they (Forster and Farrell) did well as a combination when they came on last week and posed problems for the French that hadn't been posed up until then," added Ging.
It will be Leinster's sixth halfback combination in 10 competitive outings and much depends on whether this formation ignites the young back line.
Leinster should learn the value of self-discipline from the corresponding clash 15 months ago. Stade looked dead set on self-imploding until Leinster let them off the hook and a 20-point salvo overturned a 17-8 deficit.
For tonight's clash Stade make five changes in personnel from last week and two positional switches. Christophe Dominici switches to full back to accommodate debutant Manu Samoan winger Brian Lima. Cliff Mytton and Darren George, return at centre and lock, while Fabrice Landreau comes back in at hooker. Christophe Moni moves to number eight with Richard PoolJones returning at flanker as Christophe Juillet is rested.
Akin to the Parisian Barbarians, Stade's cosmopolitan slant is underlined by the presence of seven nationalities in their squad. They will field 11 internationals, with four or five more on the bench.
For the visit of such an attractive side, it is a shame that this evening's kick-off has been brought forward to 5.30. Apparently the reasoning behind this was that there would be a rash of office parties on the second last Friday before Christmas, and that a 6.30 kick-off wouldn't suit the partygoers. And what about the, erm, people who might actually be still working?
LEINSTER: P McKenna; D Hickie, B O'Driscoll, S Horgan, J McWeeney; E Farrell, S Forster; R Corrigan, S Byrne, G Halpin, R Casey, M O'Kelly, D O'Brien, V Costello, L Toland (capt). Replace- ments - G D'Arcy, M McHugh, B Everitt, P Coyle, P Smyth, L Cullen, T Brennan.
STADE FRANCAIS: C Dominici; B Lima, C Mytton, C Stoltz, T Lombard; D Dominguez, C Laussucq; S Marconnet, F Landreau, P de Villiers, D George, D Auradou, R Pool-Jones, C Moni, M Lievremont. Replacements - to be finalised.
Referee: S Piercy (England).
Previous meetings: ('98-99) Leinster 17 Stade Francais 28; Stade Francais 56 Leinster 31. ('99-00) Stade Francais 39 Leinster 6.
Last five games: Leinster - LWWLL. Stade Francais - WWLLW.
