Rupeni not the only dangerman

And coach Michael Cheika has seen at first hand the challenge Agen will provide at Lansdowne Road on Saturday evening and then at Stade Armandie a week later

"We can call on the experience of last season when we had back-to-back matches against another French club in Bourgoin although we know Agen are going to be a different package and it will be more about how we manage our game and impose ourselves on them," he said.

"We have done a fair bit of work on them and we will certainly give them great respect. I had a good look at them - on tape as well as in the flesh when I went down to their ground earlier in the season - so we know they have some very talented players.

"They are very good and strong on the ground, they really attack the ball so it will be an interesting challenge for us to stay on our feet because once you are on the ground they are all over you.

"They tend to get that turnover ball out wide pretty quick so we have to pounce on that early on.

"Their pack is a mix of foreign and top French players while they have a choice at No 10 between Francois Gelez and Jerome Miquel, all depending on what sort of game they want to play.

"Their win at Gloucester in the last round shows they can play away from home and they ran the ball a fair bit at Kingsholm.

"Everyone knows what a threat wing Rupeni Caucaunibuca can be but we also have a couple of decent wings ourselves while Agen also have players like Luc Lafforgue and Pepito Elhorga who can be a danger with the ball in hand.

"We will miss the injured Will Green and coping with their big pack at the set pieces will be a challenge but in that respect it was the perfect hit-out for us in Belfast where I was really pleased with our scrum and line-out against a very good Ulster pack.

"We do not have the biggest pack around but we have been upping our intensity and improving all the time."

An opening round win over Gloucester Rugby was followed by a last-gasp 25-24 defeat in Edinburgh and Cheika knows they cannot afford another lapse.

"The Heineken Cup is the pinnacle tournament and you have to be at your very best in every round.

"We lacked discipline against Edinburgh, gave away too many penalties and that cost us the game," he said. "We cannot afford that sort of indiscipline against Agen."

Leinster fought out a 6-6 draw with Ulster on Saturday night and Cheika declared himself "happy enough with the draw - the match was played in absolutely terrible conditions, the ground was almost unplayable.

"I think we probably just deserved to win but getting a draw at Ravenhill against the league leaders keeps them in our sights and we have to be confident coming off the back of that, but most of all, there were plenty of positives for us from the bigger pictures as we concentrate on Agen."