LEINSTER are a club of superstars; Brian O’Driscoll is the biggest of them and under him they grown accustomed to winning the biggest trophies.
He is missing tonight, though. And the Amlin Challenge Cup isn’t Heineken Cup. And Irish rugby must be on a downer after the Six Nations Championships...
The reigning European champions are there for the taking, surely.
Wasps director of rugby Dai Young said: “If anything that may make them more determined. They were in a really tough group and got crippled with injuries at a very difficult time.
Now what they’re going to have to do is go and win the Amlin to prove they’re still the team that everybody recognises them for.
If anything it will stir them on a bit. They’ll want to finish the season with a bit of silverware.”
And although Driscoll, Jonathan Sexton and former Wasp nine Eoin Reddan are among a long list of injuries, Young doesn’t exect the province to be substantially weaker.
He said: “It’s a shame they’re missing some players. You want to be measured against the best in the world and the names just roll off your tongue.
“It would have added to the excitement to see these types of players coming to Adams Park. But they’re used to dealing with a number of players out. They’ve got a squad used to and capable of playing without some of their stars.
“They’re a quality team that plays some excellent rugby. We know we’re going to have to give it our best shot.”
As for Wasps, they don’t go into the cup tie in the best form.
Four losses in a row has brought a bright mid-winter to a shuddering halt and the black and golds must now walk a tightrope to the end of the season.
Young said: “I’m not going to lie and pretend it [the league run] doesn’t matter. It does matter. You’d rather go into this game on the back of four wins. I think everybody would feel more confident.
“But it’s a one-off cup game. We know we’re better than we’ve played in the last two games and if Leinster coming to your own patch doesn’t get your juices flowing and get you back to playing to the best of your abilities nothing is going to.
“People will think they’re clear favourites but from our point of view, we just want to play the rugby that we know we can play and if we do there is no reason why we can’t be anybody on their day.
“It gives us a chance to put away our league form of late and put a real marker down. It’s a chance for us to get things back on the road.”
Young has previous. He knocked Wasps out in the quarter-finals of this competition when he was with Cardiff Blues in 2010 and a month later was celebrating with silverware in France.
He know that from here on in, it’s anybody’s game.
He said: “It’s just one-off games now. A little bit of luck or a few decisions going your way is going to make all the difference.
“But you’ve got to be in it to win it and we’ve given ourselves a chance by working hard through the group.”
