Keeping it close to chest: The contrasting methodologies of opposing head coaches, Declan Kidney and Michael Cheika have proved equally successful this season. European Cup semi-finalists? Check. Competing for Celtic League honours? Check.
Yet, their attitudes to media relations provide an insight into two markedly diverse styles. The former schoolteacher, Kidney is ultra-cautious when it comes to public utterances. Cheika - whose Curriculum Vitae includes a stint as business manager for a world-renowned fashion designer - is forthcoming and accessible at a media briefing held in the RDS every Wednesday before a game.
Despite the chalk and cheese approach, neither man gives anything away when it comes to team selection. When Kidney was asked, after Saturday's 36-15 demolition of Edinburgh, if John Kelly is now the frontrunner for the number 13 jersey, a characteristically vague response followed: "Well, we'll just have to see how training goes during the week. But he did have a good game. John has a number of caps under his belt at centre, so we'll just have a look at the best combinations for next weekend."
Not very enlightening, but Cheika hardly launched a new dawn of glasnost when asked before the Toulouse game who would cover outhalf if, God forbid, Felipe Contepomi got injured. No obvious candidate was available. "Ah mate, if I told you that I would have to promote you to the coaching staff. Don't worry, we have a plan in place."
Who'd be a referee?
Joel Jutge would. Missing Neil Back's skulduggery (when he prevented Peter Stringer from putting the ball into the scrum) in the closing stages of the 2002 European Cup final wasn't entirely the Frenchman's fault - he was on the other side of the scrum ensuring John Hayes and Graham Rowntree were binding correctly. The linesman, Joel Dume, was partially obstructed by Stringer. Still, considering the consequences, it remains a royal cock-up.
And yet, Jutge is the most experienced European Cup referee, having handled 31 games, including the said final and four quarter-finals. Number 32 comes on Sunday.
Jutge is familiar with both sets of players, just not in direct contact. The two Irish referees - Simon McDowell and Alistair McKay - both struggled to control the Celtic League meetings this season. Handling the recent Leicester v Bath encounter will be of immense benefit to Jutge.
Ireland's Alain Rolland travels to San Sebastian for Saturday's Biarritz v Bath semi-final. It will be the former international scrumhalf's 21st European Cup cap as a referee.
Previous meetings
Leinster 24-20 Munster
Lansdowne Road, December 15th, 2001
We'll give Matty Williams the first word: "There was a reputation that Leinster doesn't have any spirit, that Munster had cornered the market. I'm very pleased to say that's dead and there are two great sides in town now."
Five years on, such an assertion has finally been reinforced. The former Leinster coach was defending his players' backbone after the first Celtic League final - which bizarrely took place a week before Christmas.
Maybe the chilly conditions went straight to Eric Miller's brain. An impulsive toe-poke into the midriff of Anthony Foley, who lay prone on the wrong side of a ruck, after just 26 minutes left Welsh referee Nigel Whitehouse with a no brainer. Red Card. A 30-day suspension followed. Miller took his medicine and apologised.
The game unfolded much like Sunday's could (20 of the current cast were on show), with Munster forwards suffocating their opponents for long periods before Leinster's talented backs came up for air.
Early tries from Foley and John O'Neill were cancelled out when Aussie outhalf Nathan Spooner released the speedsters. Two tries from man-of-the-match Shane Horgan and another from Gordon D'Arcy (still a winger in 2001) ultimately decided the contest.
LEINSTER: G Dempsey; D Hickie, B O'Driscoll, S Horgan, G D'Arcy; N Spooner, B O'Meara; R Corrigan (capt), S Byrne, P Wallace, L Cullen, M O'Kelly, E Miller, V Costello, K Gleeson. Replacements: B Casey for Cullen (59 mins). Sent off: Miller (26 mins).
MUNSTER: D Crotty; J O'Neill, J Kelly, R Henderson, A Horgan; R O'Gara; P Stringer; M Horan, F Sheahan, P Clohessy, M Galwey (capt), P O'Connell, A Quinlan, A Foley, J Williams. Replacements: M Mullins for Crotty (3-10 mins and 64 mins), D Hegarty for Kelly (26-33 mins), J Holland for Henderson (58 mins), M Cahill for Clohessy (61 mins), M O'Driscoll for O'Connell (74 mins), C McMahon for Galwey (74 mins). Sinbinned: Prendergast (26-36 mins).
Attendance: 25,500 (although a few more sneaked in).
Referee: N Whitehouse (Wales).
