The Leinster tighthead prop, Will Green, made his Wasps debut 11 years ago. Two years later, he was in former England coach Clive Woodward's first national team, against Australia at Twickenham before travelling on the ill-fated "Tour from Hell", where he added a second cap. A World Cup warm-up match against the USA in 1999 provided another cap before four years in the international wilderness, after which he was again recalled to the England squad.

Several years on, you can see where the 32-year-old gets his relaxed personality, a sort of seen-it, done-it insouciance. Tossed about by selectors, dropped and picked up again, it is now in the relative twilight of his career and the calm of Leinster that he has again found himself within touching distance of a major trophy.

Green has been around the block and with 39 Heineken European Cup appearances for Wasps, which at the time of leaving for Dublin was the highest of any player, the frontrow has come to believing in a basic philosophy.

"Consistency?" he repeats, when Leinster's inconsistent streak is mentioned. "You've got to play more often for consistency and keep working harder. It's not rocket science. It's hard work. That's what it is about. You don't get anything in rugby unless you put hard work in. That's what we are putting in this year and that's what we are becoming addicted to.

"We are technically improving but we are by no means there yet. You can never say that you are the finished article. We are very, very critical of ourselves, more critical than anyone. Regardless of what is being written we do our own analysis and know where we are at. Honestly, we don't get that excited. We are not in the business to prove people wrong. We are in the business of doing our job. If we do that we get rewards. It's uncomplicated, yeah. It's not rocket science."

Green has never been accused of giving away trade secrets. If every team were to work as hard as Leinster, and most do, then why are they not in the semi-final of the European Cup? Hard work is the basic tool. But the prop has been around too long to blab trade secrets. "Working smart," says Green. "You've got to work smart, work on the technical side and keep doing every little bit to get that edge."

Details? Green gives a wry smile. "We do what we do," he says. "We keep that in-house." While Michael Cheika has introduced a new regime that has been able to express the better qualities of the Leinster players, their match tonight against Border Reivers should indicate whether the team can hold the form they produced in Toulouse. During the week Munster captain Anthony Foley said it was insulting to call the semi-final a test between their devastating pack and the Leinster backline. Foley's point was Munster have talented backs and Leinster have an underrated front eight.

For Green, although the words are appreciated, he gives the strong impression they are just words and part of an ocean of irrelevancies that will be written and spoken between now and April 23rd.

"I read that," he says of Foley's comments. "That's good of him to say. Munster have an incredible pedigree in Europe. We respect them. They are a top team. But as I've said, we're not looking at Munster at the moment. Yeah, he's complimenting us and I think if we are in the business of compliments then we certainly won't underestimate their backs. We've massive respect for them. They've massive respect for us and that's where we are."

The allegation too that Leinster sometimes find it difficult to get up for Celtic League games is dismissed by the sagacious international. Games in Wales, against Edinburgh and also Connacht have occasionally betrayed another side of the Leinster character. Perhaps, as Green says, hard work and repetition will make the team personality less polarised.

"I don't think it's the case of having difficulty getting up for games," he says. "We've a fantastic work ethic and we have to keep that up. Michael Cheika brought that work ethic in this year. He brought in honesty about the place. But it's not about looking at what's bad. It's about improving. Now we've got to keep playing regular rugby between now and the end of May, on the bounce every week."