Fresh from putting the English champions to the sword last weekend, Heineken Cup new boys Exeter Chiefs will have the reigning European champions in their sights when they make their tournament bow on Saturday.
"I don't think it's giving our game plan away to say we'll 'go for it' because that's what we intend to do" - Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter
The 42-28 bonus point victory over Harlequins at Sandy Lane was the most impressive of the season by Rob Baxter's men and made it 16 points from their opening six matches this season to keep them in sixth place in the table going into Europe.
And as they prepare themselves for a trip to Dublin Baxter has thrown down the gauntlet to Joe Schmidt and his men on the back of their five tries against the Quins by saying that Exeter "will be going for it" at RDS.
Leinster warmed-up for the defence of their title with a thrilling 30-21 triumph over old rivals Munster in front of a 46,280 crowd at the Aviva Stadium last weekend, but have already been beaten twice this season.
The Chiefs have 15 players in their squad who have tasted Heineken Cup action with previous clubs, but their total number of appearances only amounts to 94. Leinster's Gordon D'Arcy alone has played 86 times in the competition.
But at least two of the 38-man Chiefs squad will travel with some experience of playing against, and beating, the three times champions. Back row man James Scaysbrook was in the Bath team that beat Leinster 22-19 at the RDS in 2005 and wing Mark Foster scored in both Pool games for Gloucester when they met the Dublin-based side in the 2006/07 tournament, helping the west countrymen to win at Kingsholm 19-13.
In their two seasons in the Amlin Challenge Cup the Chiefs have coped well with the pressure of European competition and reached the quarter-finals last season before losing to Stade Francais 22-17 in Paris. Now comes another first and another huge step-up.
"We are slightly above where we targeted in the Aviva Premiership given the fixtures we have had. We thought we might get between 12 and 15 points, whereas in fact we've acquired 16," said Chiefs head coach Baxter.
"That's pretty good since we've played all of the top four from last season. We're working hard to establish ourselves in the Premiership and we've tended to do well in big, difficult circumstances.
"Now I've got to hope again that this weekend brings the best out of us. We'll enjoy the experience and we'll come out of it a better team.
"We'll approach Leinster in a similar manner to the Harlequins game. There's no point saying we'll go there, kick the ball behind them and see if we can defend for 80 minutes.
"We'll only get better as a side if we enjoy the 80 minutes - that's the only way to improve. I don't think it's giving our game plan away to say we'll go for it because that's what we intend to do."
