Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll is hoping to put their World Cup disappointment behind them with a good run in the Heineken Cup.
Leinster start at home with a visit from last season's losing finalists Leicester at the Royal Dublin Society stadium, which O'Driscoll admits will be a difficult opener for his side.
Then they travel away to Toulouse with Edinburgh the other team in their group.
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"As a way of getting past a disappointing World Cup, this is fantastic. I have to say it is a great competition to come into and we look forward to it," said O'Drsicoll.
"To win it you are probably going to need to win eight out of nine games and the last three of those are against the best teams playing that year, so the winners come May will be very worthy champions.
"We certainly have a tough start to the competition, but you can look at it two ways - if you win the first game or two games then you are sitting pretty in the group and confidence will grow from that.
"If you lose the first game it can go the other way and if you lose the first two you could be out so it is a matter of making sure you do not start slowly.
"Leicester Tigers are coming over so the RDS will be packed out to the brim, there will be a great atmosphere.
"They have also done some good work with the pitch making it more suitable to running rugby which is how we like to play it and the Tigers have the same mindset."