European Cup News round-up: Buoyed by the huge volume of support they received in Stockport last Friday when beating Sale, Leinster are hopeful of eclipsing the competition record 22,000 attendance for a pool game when hosting Cardiff at Lansdowne Road tomorrow night (kick-off 7.45).
Both on and off the pitch, Leinster's season has suddenly gathered momentum from a slightly unpromising scenario.
With 500 supporters having travelled over to Sale, a figure almost doubled by the expatriates who drove up to 200 miles to support his team, the Leinster captain Reggie Corrigan said last Sunday was "as good an away game as we've experienced in a very long time".
Friday's ambitious target is quite a step up from the disappointing 7,000 who attended Leinster's opening pool game, against Biarritz, on the second-last Saturday before Christmas, and indeed the 14,000 who turned up for the Sale game a fortnight ago.
But according to the Leinster press officer, Tom McCormack, the phone lines have been hopping: "Friday-night football is established again, the schools are back, the dart is working, the lads have been out visiting schools and there's been a lot of promotional work put into this match."
It's also worth noting that this could, conceivably, be Leinster's last game of the season in the more expansive surrounds of Lansdowne Road unless they reach the knock-out stages and then obtain a home tie.
To that end, not surprisingly, Gary Ella has named an unchanged side, with the in-form Gordon D'Arcy continuing at outside centre in the absence of Brian O'Driscoll, thereby also accommodating Brendan Burke, who is equally on top of his game. Burke's potent left boot also gives Leinster an important additional kicking option.
"I don't think D'Arcy would be out of place anywhere on the field at the moment. His confidence is sky high and I think if you played him at scrumhalf he'd do a fantastic job there as well. All season he's been showing leadership to a lot of the younger guys, which has been a bonus to the team," the Leinster coach said of his 23-year-old veteran - which, with 66 caps, he actually is.
Eric Miller has been passed fit to play, and Leinster are also confident Victor Costello will be fit as well even though he was unable to complete yesterday's training.
Des Dillon joins a long injury list which, in addition to O'Driscoll, includes John Lyne, Niall Treston, Emmett Byrne, Leo Cullen, Kieran Lewis and Denis Hickie.
The good news is the return of Shane Jennings to the bench, where Jason Moran comes in for Enda Bohan, who has "personal commitments that he needs to take care of".
Ella and Leinster have clearly been buoyed by their support and their performance in Sale, which the coach conceded was in part due to Corrigan's team talk.
"He did most of the talking beforehand and he came out with a great deal of passion, which the players reacted very well to."
Ella is anticipating another forward-orientated battle with Cardiff, to whom Leinster lost in the Celtic League earlier in the season while the frontliners were on World Cup duty before winning in Wales before Christmas.
Victory with a bonus point would assure Leinster a place in the quarter-finals if Biarritz failed to beat Sale on Sunday but Ella is perhaps coming to terms with the innate unpredictability of Leinster sides.
Playing down Leinster's new-found, and slightly puzzling, status as second favourites with some bookmakers, Ella commented: "We know we have to play very well in every game and as you could see against Sale if you have an off day you get beat, and if you get beaten from here on in you're out of the tournament."
LEINSTER LIONS (v Cardiff): Girvan Dempsey; John McWeeney, Gordon D'Arcy, Shane Horgan, Brendan Burke; Christian Warner, Brian O'Meara; Reggie Corrigan (capt), Shane Byrne, Peter Coyle, Malcolm O'Kelly, Ben Gissing, Eric Miller, Victor Costello, Keith Gleeson.
Replacements: Jason Moran, Gavin Hickie, Aidan McCullen, Shane Jennings, Brian O'Riordan, Matt Leek, David Quinlan.
