The French league is at a crucial stage at this moment in time. In the past few weeks we've dropped some points that we would have expected to pick up. So as regards the domestic scene, it has put us under quite a bit of pressure and that is where our thoughts have been. We've now had to target some games to win points, some games to take some scalps, the way we nearly did against Perpignan recently when we went down by just a few points. But we've also had to make sure we win the fixtures we would have expected to. That's the situation that we now find ourselves in and that's where the minds of the team and press and fans have been focussed.

So there hasn't been much talk of this Leinster game but that will be in sharp contrast to what I know of Leinster from my time there. With the break in the Celtic League surrounding the internationals, a lot of guys will have been gearing up for this. They will have had a lot of time to focus and hone in on this. In a way, that puts them in an advantageous position. Having said that, we've been playing competitive rugby together. We've kept things going whereas Leinster haven't had competitive games at all. So you can look at the fixtures structure in either way but overall it probably balances out. I'm not sure of the situation with Leinster, whether they have been meeting up with the international players and doing some work, but here, well the French lads are thrown straight back into the deep end with competitive games.

As for myself, I'm still not sure at this stage whether I will be playing. A couple of months ago I picked up a knock, a knee injury, and given the big games we've had over the past while I was eager to get back. That cost me. I probably rushed things and I'm paying for it at this stage. I haven't been able to shake it and I really don't know if I'll make the game.

To miss it would be very disappointing though, but what can you do? If I'm injured I'm injured. I guess it would be disappointing not only because it's Leinster but because it's a Heineken Cup quarter-final. It's a huge game and to be part of that would be fantastic. It would also be great, sure, because it is Leinster. It would be great to play against the guys and show people back home how my game has progressed and the player I have become over here.

But the team hasn't even got around to analysing Leinster. We haven't looked at the video or the stats or studied them in any great detail. Up to now we've been taking it game by game, we've had to. But I remember people in this part of the world being very impressed with the nature of the Leinster win against Bath on the last day of the group stages. That style of rugby is what comes to mind when people do think of Leinster.

The tries and some of the highlights would have been on television here and it made very impressive viewing. That will have stuck with rugby fans here and we'll see more of that when we get down to our analysis and preparation for it over the coming days.

But already, without having scrutinised things, you'd have to imagine that this will be a battle of the backs. It's really the cream of the crop from Ireland against the cream of the crop from France. Both sides can be amazing when they move the ball and play attacking rugby and both sides are capable of some amazing things, so from that perspective it should be a fascinating contest.

People will say we are favourites, because of the home advantage. And there's an opinion here that home advantage leaves us as expected victors, that because of the venue we shouldn't lose. But you can't think like that.

Wasps have already run us very close recently in the football stadium where this game will be played and Leinster are too good a side not to be confident, so I'm sure they'll arrive thinking they can progress. So we can't take any chances because you just never know.'