"Their strengths are quite obvious, they're quite defenceorientated, " says Malcolm O'Kelly, back to something close to full health after a good seven weeks tending to an injured knee. "It will be an interesting battle given we're so attack-orientated. Their defence is one of the best in England, very aggressive.

They're a very aggressive team all round. All their players are the kind of players that are destructive. I'm sure they see themselves as more than that but their main threat to us is their destructive nature, that we won't win any phase ball. We'll certainly win our set piece ball but to win our phase ball will be the key to us."

The second row is bang on in highlighting the need for Leinster to secure their phase ball, particularly with the likes of Tom Rees, Joe Worsley and Lawrence Dallaglio likely to be loitering around the breakdown. In the Heineken Cup semi-final of 2004, one of European rugby's most memorable afternoons, Wasps choked Munster at the breakdown, using all manner of legal, semi-legal and completely illegal activity to slow down attacking ball. Not only that, they antogonised their opponents to such a degree that both Donncha O'Callaghan and Rob Henderson were sent to the sin bin for attempting to mimic Wasps and the English side effectively won that thrilling game because of it. So not only are Leinster going to have to do everything in their power to secure their own ball on the floor as quickly and efficiently as possible, they're also going to have to keep their own discipline in this particular area. Lose their cool, concede needles penalties and they'll lose the match.

Simple as that.

The other Wasps characteristic they'll have to deal with is their rush defence, a system almost patented by Warren Gatland and Shawn Edwards. The system isn't as watertight as it was during their 2004 campaign, but it's still pretty destructive and Leinster will have to vary their game plan accordingly.

"To be honest, we've struggled with it [the rush] a bit in the game against Welsh teams, probably more last year because the Welsh haven't played as much rush this year, " says Michael Cheika. "They're not just rush, they're a hook. They try to pincer you, so you stop looking to the outside. They're tempting you to look over the top. Without giving away too many of our plans, they're definitely strong at it and Shaun Edwards is an excellent coach and that side of it suits them perfectly. They know how to manage their defence well and it's going to be a challenge to break it down."

Cheika and David Knox are sure to implement a couple of moves Ireland used last week, albeit against a fairly primitive Italian rush defence, against Wasps. The inside pass from the out-half to the blindside winger and the little chip beyond the advancing defence are just two ways in which Felipe Contepomi and Co can pick Wasps' defensive lock but that, of course, very much depends on whether the Argentinean's knee injury heals completely in the coming days. With Brian O'Driscoll definitely out, you get the sense that Contepomi simply has to play and be at full capacity if Leinster are to win. They won't survive with the two missing.

What we can bank on, judging from the team that took the field against Connacht in the Magners League last night, is that Kieran Lewis will start at 13 against Wasps, an entirely sensible decision which will allow the best 12 in world rugby, Gordon D'Arcy, to start in his prime position.

When O'Driscoll missed the Heineken Cup pool game against Edinburgh, Cheika and David Knox made the same decision and it remains one of this season's enduring mysteries why Eddie O'Sullivan shifted Shane Horgan to 12 and D'Arcy to 13 when the Irish captain missed the Six Nations game against France.

Had he copied what Leinster have done in the past, and are likely to do again against Wasps on Saturday, Ireland would be Grand Slam champions right now.

But enough of that, the key for Leinster against Wasps will be their ability to supply the likes of Horgan, D'Arcy, Girvan Dempsey and Denis Hickie . . . all currently in a rich vein of form . . . with enough quality possession. As we've already said, the Leinster back row is going to have to be particularly cute on the floor and the pack in general, often unfairly maligned, will need to come up trumps at set-piece time, particularly out of touch.

"We've been working as hard as we can during the Six Nations, " says O'Kelly. "We've been fortunate that even the forwards who've been involved in the Irish squad have been back with us Thursday, Friday of each week . . . Trevor, Jamie, myself and Gleese."

No excuses, then, for not providing their backs with a reasonable supply of clean ball and if they can do that, hold their discipline and not let Wasps spoil too much on the ground, there's no reason why they can't do what they did last season and win a quarterfinal away from home.

Even without Brian O'Driscoll.

HEINEKEN CUP QUARTER-FINAL
WASPS v LEINSTER

Saturday, Adams Park, 5.45 Referee J Jutge (Fra) Live, Sky Sports 1, 5.30