Leinster coach Mike Ruddock is hopeful that Victor Costello's dislocated finger will stand the rigours of what will probably be the Irish side's toughest game so far in the European Cup - and certainly their most critical to date.
Having beaten Leicester two weeks ago in Donnybrook, Leinster know that the English side must win today in order to keep a quarter-final qualification berth within their own grasp. Ruddock's team must do the same. No longer an unknown quantity to the Tigers, Leinster's tempo today will clearly have to exceed that of their magnificent home win if anything is to be taken from Welford Road.
"It's a pivotal match for us. If we lose, then we'll struggle to qualify and we would then have to rely on others for points," said Ruddock yesterday. "I spoke to Eric Miller at the Irish panel session during the week and he made it clear that they are up for this game. So we have to challenge from the beginning. For the first 20 minutes it will be very important to keep making the hits we were able to do for 80 minutes last time around.
"We've got to keep the pressure on them, hit them hard all the time and maintain the ferocity of our tackling," he said. With Emmet Byrne coming in for the injured Angus McKeen at tight-head prop, Leinster are forced into only one change from the team of September 12th, so practically all of the players known what to expect this time round.
Costello, who will play with a protective cover and a painkilling injection on the digit next to his little finger of his left hand, will be taking orders from pack leader Steven Jameson. The St Mary's lock will no doubt purge his front eight of the touch of over-confidence that Ruddock suspects might have crept into last week's performance against Milan.
Facing the likes of Leicester Captain Martin Johnson and Matt Poole in the second row and Eric Miller and Neil Back in the back row, Jameson is hardly ignorant of the task ahead for his hitters, Costello, Trevor Brennan and David O'Sullivan.
However, both he and captain Kurt McQuilkin are aware of the talent behind the Leinster scrum. Kevin Nowlan, Denis Hickie and John McWeeney are considered to be match winners by Ruddock, while former Irish out-half and Leinster selector Paul Dean believes the three players to be the fastest he has seen at provincial level for some years. That said, getting the ball to them will prove to be Leinster's biggest problem, despite some shuffling around in their opponents' line-up.
"We've got to give that Leinster back three the ball. Swansea scored 128 tries last year. That's a philosophy I've been trying to carry over into the Leinster team. I want to use those players more often to score some more," said Ruddock.
For this game, at least, that is probably aspirational against a Leicester team who have found a little of their form. But Leinster have proven doubters wrong already this year.
Leinster: K Nowlan (St Mary's); D Hickie (St Mary's), M Ridge (Old Belvedere), K McQuilkin, capt (Lansdowne), J McWeeney (St Mary's); A McGowan (Blackrock), D O'Mahony (Lansdowne); R Corrigan (Greystones), S Byrne (Blackrock), E Byrne (St Mary's), S Jameson (St Mary's), A Freeman (Lansdowne), T Brennan (St Mary's), D O'Sullivan (Skerries), V Costello (St Mary's). Leicester: M Horak; L Lloyd, N Malone, S Potter, K Barlow; J Stransky, A Healy; P Freshwater, R Cockerill, D Garforth, M Johnson (capt), M Poole, M Corry, E Miller, NBack.
