Brian O'Driscoll is confident he will have recovered in time from a minor knee operation to play in his third Heineken Cup final on Saturday.
The Leinster Rugby legend missed last weekend's RaboDirect PRO12 semi-final victory over Glasgow Warriors after undergoing key-hole surgery to trim his cartilage after twisting the joint in training last Thursday.
"You'd have to have a limb falling off to stop you playing in the Heineken Cup final. I might not train fully until Thursday, but I don't think I'll be far off 100% come Saturday so it doesn't worry me greatly," said two-time winner O'Driscoll.
"I went and had a little trim of the cartilage done on Friday morning. In my mind it has never been an option not to play this weekend and my recovery has gone well over the weekend.
"A big part of weeks like this is about resting and keeping your feet up on the couch. Sometimes you can feel guilty for doing that, but that's part of the job - making sure you're fully rested and ready for Saturday.
"One thing about having a longish career is that you learn to deal with having knocks going into games. There's no point in playing out the game beforehand, it's about this week culminating in 80 minutes come Saturday afternoon, nothing else."
"I've had different injuries at different times and been able to play with them, so I will just be drawing on that reserve to understand what it takes to prepare myself as best as possible to take the pitch on Saturday.
"I think a part of it is about remaining positive and concentrating on the best-case scenario. If you get down about yourself it doesn't help the healing process. Provided you can remain upbeat I think you give your body every chance to recover as soon as it possibly can.
"Physically I do recover from injuries quicker than some. It's a combination of trying to work hard on small things and making sure everything else is ticking over."
The 33-year-old O'Driscoll, who is one try short of equalling Vincent Clerc's tournament record of 32, is not the only injury conceren for the reigning champions ahead of their all-Irish clash at Twickenham Stadium with Ulster Rugby. Fellow centre Eoin O'Malley has been ruled out for six months with a cruciate ligament injury, while prop Cian Healy is recovering from a sore ankle.
Gordon D'Arcy had to have stitches in a head wound after the win over Glasgow, while full back Rob Kearney is expected to be fine for Twickenham after sitting out the PRO12 semi-final with a back problem.
"Discipline is going to be key on Saturday because when you have a guy who's able to knock over penalties from 55 or 60 yards you can't afford to be giving away silly penalties," said O'Driscoll.
