Munster and Leinster have named their starting teams for tomorrow's Heineken Cup semi-final showdown at Croke Park.

THIS was a game to get over and for a large part of it, Leinster played that way.

BERNARD JACKMAN believes his Leinster team-mate Gordon D’Arcy may still have a role to play in this summer’s Lions tour to South Africa, despite being overlooked yesterday by Ian McGeechan.

Brian O'Driscoll and Luke Fitzgerald are back in the Leinster squad for the Heineken Cup quarter final clash with Harlequins at The Twickenham Stoop on Sunday afternoon.

LEINSTER will roll out the big names for Saturday’s crucial Magners League clash with Munster at Thomond Park (7.30). The return of Brian O’Driscoll, Luke Fitzgerald, Jamie Heaslip and Rob Kearney was a no-brainer for coach Michael Cheika as Leinster set about trying to overhaul leaders Munster.

THE timing of Leo Cullen’s recovery from injury could hardly be more appropriate as Leinster go in search of further Magners League glory at the RDS this weekend.

THE Magners League came down to a two-horse race as defending champions Leinster overtook Munster with a gutsy second-half display against the Ospreys.

BERNARD JACKMAN returns to the Leinster line-up for tonight’s Magners League clash at the Liberty Stadium (KO: 7.05pm) in the only change from the side that defeated the Scarlets 31-17 last time out.

GORDON D’ARCY will again audition for a Six Nations starting berth this Friday when Leinster go to the Ospreys’ Liberty Stadium in search of a second successive Magners League win in Wales.

ON to April’s Heineken Cupquarter-finals Leinster go, butwith a nervous stumble rather than a confident swagger.

Rookies Cian Healy and Devin Toner and Ireland international Trevor Hogan have been asked to show their worth in the Leinster front five to lock horns with Edinburgh in a do-or-die Heineken Cup match at The RDS on Sunday.

MICHAEL CHEIKA remains upbeat about Malcolm O’Kelly’s chances of escaping further censure for the stamp on Phil Vickery last week, an act which is threatening the player’s participation in Sunday’s final Heineken Cup group game against Edinburgh.

There is uncertainty over the fitness of Leinster's two first choice props CJ van der Linde and Stan Wright ahead of their crucial Pool 2 Heineken Cup encounter with London Wasps at Twickenham on Saturday.

SHANE JENNINGS hopes to find out tonight if he will be eligible for Leinster’s crunch Heineken Cup tie against Wasps at Twickenham on Saturday after the province decided to appeal the three-week ban handed to the flanker last Tuesday.

THE lowest point in Leinster’s season came in Castres before Christmas when they lost a game they ought to have won. Coincidence or not, they have won three games since they could just as easily have lost.

LEINSTER have been dealt a severe Heineken Cup blow with the news that international flanker Shane Jennings has been suspended until January 27.

THE good news first.

LEINSTER coach Michael Cheika is preparing for Saturday’s Heineken Cup visit of Castres by insisting the French outfit will be more Montauban than Bourgoin.

GEORGE HOOK ruffled more than a few feathers after Munster’s narrow defeat to New Zealand last week when he claimed that Leinster would never have been able to produce a similar performance under the same straitened circumstances.

IT IS back to basics this week for Leinster. Last Saturday it was Wasps, the Heineken Cup and a heaving RDS. This Friday it will be Glasgow, approximately 2,000 people and Glasgow’s Firhill in the Magners League.

THE Heineken Cup group stages aren’t meant to be like this. No-one is meant to approach the exit marked ‘quarter-finals’ until at least round five, particularly in a group with such high profile names.

LEINSTER finally overcame their Edinburgh Heineken Cup bogey at Murrayfield on Saturday to secure victory and gain a priceless away bonus point.

THOUGH only a Dublin resident a matter of weeks, CJ van der Linde is well able to empathise with his Leinster colleagues’ pitiful record in Murrayfield, a venue they visit again this Saturday for their opening Heineken Cup match of the season.

LEINSTER look set to revert back to their early-season rotation policy for Sunday’s Magners League game with Connacht at the Sportsground having started with what was arguably their first 15 against Munster last weekend.

NOT a complete performance from Leinster by any stretch of the imagination, but still a significant victory against a heavyweight Ospreys side that had travelled to Dublin with three wins from three so far this season.

LEINSTER will continue their early-season rotation policy against the Ospreys at the RDS this evening (7.35pm) with Michael Cheika having made five changes to the side that swamped Edinburgh in Dublin last week.

RUGBY legend David Humphreys is battling to be fit for his final game with Ulster at Ravenhill tomorrow night.

BRIAN O’DRISCOLL has been included in the Leinster squad to face Edinburgh in the Magners League tie at Murrayfield on Friday but a final decision on the centre’s fitness won’t be made until tomorrow at lunchtime.

THE good news for Leinster fans is that Brian O’Driscoll has been included in the 26-man squad to face Munster at the RDS on Saturday.

MALCOLM O’KELLY could become Leinster’s most capped player in Saturday’s top-of-the-table Magners League clash with Llanelli Scarlets, (Stradey Park, 5.30pm).

THERE may still be five rounds to play before this year’s Magners League campaign is put to bed, but Leinster already have one hand gripped firmly around the trophy after events in Dublin and Wales last night.

THE Heineken Cup has always been the Holy Grail for the Irish provinces but Felipe Contepomi can’t help but be bemused by the general air of indifference the Magners League generates on these shores.

A LACK of involvement with the national side is one of the key reasons behind Keith Gleeson’s decision to retire from professional rugby at the end of the season, according to Leinster coach Michael Cheika.

INJURIES and international duties will deprive Leinster of seven front-line players at the Sportsground this evening but Michael Cheika has still been able to name a hugely experienced first 15 for the Magners League tie against Connacht (kick-off 7.30).

GIRVAN DEMPSEY has described his recovery from his hip injury as “slow but good” and is keeping his fingers crossed that he will be ready in time for the next Six Nations match against Wales.

LEINSTER’S South African prop Ollie le Roux believes Toulouse will destroy Munster’s dreams of a second Heineken Cup title.

MICHAEL CHEIKA claims a perceived sense of injustice over their lack of representation in the Ireland pack will act as extra motivation for his Leinster forwards ahead of this weekend’s crunch Magners League tie.

THE FIRST game of any Heineken Cup campaign is always one to whet the appetite, but Shane Jennings has added reason to count down the days to Saturday’s game ever since Leinster were paired with the Leicester Tigers last June.

FELIPE CONTEPOMI is again a notable absentee from the Leinster squad to face Connacht in Friday night’s Magners League clash at the RDS (7.30pm).

Ulster 16 Leinster 16

Brian O'Driscoll, Gordon D'Arcy and Girvan Dempsey return to Leinster duty for the sold-out Magners League tie with Ulster on Friday at Ravenhill (kick off: 7.30pm).

LEINSTER and Ulster will endeavour to put the Ireland’s World Cup nightmare in the rear-view mirror on Friday night in Ravenhill — but the presence of Felipe Contepomi in the visitor’s dug-out will make that difficult.

BRIAN O’DRISCOLL and Malcolm O’Kelly return to the Leinster fold this week for the first time since their World Cup disappointments.

Leinster coach Michael Cheika has named an unchanged squad to play Llanelli Scarlets in the Magners League at The RDS on Friday night (KO: 7.10pm).