So while this game was always going to be an important one on its own merits, it's now become much more critical to Leinster's long-term ambitions and they'll be more than keen to have a victory over Connacht occupying their minds over the next three weeks rather than a worrying defeat. Especially since their last Celtic League outing against the NewportGwent Dragons in Wales was such an unmitigated disaster.

On that evening at Rodney Parade, Leinster were all but demolished up front, despite having something close to their first-choice pack on the field, Malcolm O'Kelly and Cameron Jowitt the exceptions. Cheika spoke this week about how disappointed he was with the attitude of his team in that fixture and how that needs to be put right against Connacht this afternoon. "Sometimes you go out there, like the Dragons match and it doesn't go your way, " says the pragmatic coach.

"That really does happen at times. But what we've got to make sure is that on days like that, we go out on the field and earn the victory. That's the sign of a good team."

This evening at the Donnybrook dust bowl, Connacht are in town and if Cheika was looking to see if his pack really do have the ability to perform on those off-days, Michael Bradley's outfit are as good a side as any with which to test that theory.

They already gave Leinster a tough time of it around the fringes when the sides met at the Sportsground before Christmas, and they're likely to do more of the same this time around. Paul Warwick . . . who interestingly will be Irish qualified in 15 months . . . is named at out-half ahead of David Sleman, while the likes of David Gannon, Chris Keane, John Hearty and Mark McHugh will undoubtedly be fired up for a game against their native province.

Connacht have been in a decent run of form since the turn of the year but they still find themselves rooted to the bottom of the Celtic League table. The victory over Llanelli Scarlets a couple of weeks back will fire them heading into this one, just as the fight for places for their European Challenge Cup quarter-final against Newcastle should ensure total commitment.

But as Cheika predicted during the week, it's going to be a battle of the contrasting styles. "They like to play the game on the ground, we like to play it in the air, " says the coach. "The key is we've got to impose our style on them rather than the other way around."

The Australian has always equated performance with victory, namely the first will lead to the second nine times out of 10, and he'll really need both this evening if his squad are to be in a positive frame of mind over the coming weeks.

LEINSTER G Dempsey; R Kearney, K Lewis, J Hepworth, D Hickie; F Contepomi, G Easterby;

R Corrigan, B Blaney, W Green, B Williams, C Jowitt, E Miller, K Gleeson, J Heaslip CONNACHT M McHugh; D Yapp, J Hearty, K Matthews, M Mostyn; P Warwick, C Keane; R Hogan, J Fogarty, A Clarke, D Gannon, A Farley, J Muldoon, B O'Connor, C Rigney CELTIC LEAGUE LEINSTER v CONNACHT Donnybrook, 5.15 Referee O Trevor (IRFU) Live, Setanta Sports, 5.00