Leinster look to buck the odds

Munster have done the season's double over their fierce provincial rivals and will run out at a packed Croke Park with 2009 British & Irish Lions captain Paul O'Connell and six fellow tourists in their ranks. Facing them will be 2009 Grand Slam winning captain Brian O'Driscoll along with another trio of Lions in waiting for a contest of immense rich promise - and plenty of familiarity.

"To be honest, it is hard to say whether it is a benefit or a hindrance knowing each other so well but we have played them twice this season and they won on both occasions so they have to go into the semi-final as hot favourites," said Leinster's international flanker Shane Jennings.

"Of course it is the same for both of us - we know pretty much what to expect from the other - but the whole of Ireland will quite rightly regard us as the underdogs and we have a massive task ahead of us in taking on the champions of Europe.
"And playing in Dublin is no great advantage to us either. The majority of the Munster boys know Croke Park well - and have been successful there - so it is of no additional benefit for us to be playing there.

"However, it is great for the game to be going ahead at Croke and naturally everyone is really looking forward to playing in front of a massive crowd. "My only experience of Croke was with the Irish squad in the autumn against New Zealand
before I got injured but, as far as the Heineken Cup has gone this season, I have only missed the Castres Olympique home match with a niggling injury so it has been a fairly good time for me on that score."

And Jennings knows just what it means to be within touching distance of a Heineken Cup winners' medal only to finish up as a runner-up, playing in the back row for Leicester Tigers in the 2007 final as they went down to London Wasps.

"Leicester had a great run in the Heineken Cup that season and we played some excellent rugby - particularly in a huge semi-final against Llanelli - and getting to the final at Twickenham was a good experience," said Jennings of his two-year spell at Welford Road.

"However, the memories of that day are not so good and I hope we leave Croke Park on Saturday night with better memories because huge opportunities like this do not come around that often and you have to give it everything."

And the battle of the breakdown between Jennings and David Wallace could be crucial, Jennings adding: "David is a quality player and has been the leading No 7 in Ireland for a few years now. He is currently at the top of his game and it will be good to pit my wits against him.

"Now we are in the semi-finals after beating Harlequins in a match we really wanted to win, although it was disappointing in one way in that we did not attack that much.

"But overall it was a very defensive game and a lot of Leinster players stood up that day and we were able to put in a performance both for ourselves and our supporters."