Connolly flags up Leinster weaknesses

Speaking after his side's agonising 27-23 home defeat against Leinster, Connolly said he believed that other teams who reach the last eight could exploit some forward weaknesses in Reggie Corrigan's side's game.

"I would be surprised if Leinster went on to win the Heineken Cup. I think teams will take it to them in the forwards and find them out," said Connolly.

"They have wonderful backs, but they have to get parity at the scrum and line-out if they are to get them to function. They are certainly going to be in the mix, especially with players like Brian O'Driscoll and six potential Lions tourists in their ranks, but they've still got some work to do."

Those were sentiments echoed by Leinster's Irish international wing Denis Hickie. Although delighted to have clinched a quarter-final ticket, and moved to within one win of guaranteeing a home tie when the knock-out phase begins, he laid it on the line after win number five.

"We won't win the Heineken Cup playing like that. Everyone in the Leinster team realises that," admitted Hickie.

"You can't just put that performance down to a bad day at the office because that doesn't give the credit to Bath that they deserve for their great performance. We know we can play a lot better, as we did against them when we beat them in Dublin, but it was pleasing the way in which we dogged it out and got the result in the end."

Leinster were trailing by 10 points going into the final 10 minutes of the game and managed to score two tries in the space of two minutes to turn the game on its head and protect their 100 per cent record.

Just for the record, only three teams in the history of the Heineken Cup have gone through a six match Pool campaign undefeated - London Wasps in 1997/98, Bath in 2001/2002 and Leinster in 2002/2003. However, none of those sides was capable of going on to win the title.

Both wasps and Bath lost at home in the quarter-finals, while Leinster were beaten at Lansdowne Road by Perpignan in the semi-finals.