IT didn’t take Chris Whitaker long to recognise that playing for Leinster against Munster was more special than any other game, and nothing has changed since moving on to manage the Heineken Cup champions.

LEINSTER will have plenty of experience to help guide them through an expected tough Magners League experience against Cardiff Blues at Cardiff City Stadium on Sunday (4pm).

THE highs and lows of professional rugby were very evident at the RDS on Saturday evening as Leinster clocked up their fourth win over the Scarlets who must be sick of the sight of them by now.

LEINSTER manager Chris Whitaker described Brian O’Driscoll’s selection by prestigious Rugby World magazine as player of the decade as a no-brainer.

EVEN at this early juncture there is a clarity of purpose about the French in Europe this season that suggests they mean business. Biarritz, Toulouse and Stade Francais are unbeaten at the summit of their respective pools while Clermont Auvergne and Perpignan are well positioned to make up ground when the tournament resumes in December. Brive, with two losses, are the only Gallic side out of the mix.

THERE were some conflicting emotions swirling around Chris Whitaker’s head last Saturday night as he watched Leinster take Munster apart at the RDS.

LEINSTER may have ended a run of near-misses and underachievement in glorious fashion by winning the Heineken Cup, but that will not stop Michael Cheika from imposing a change of playing style this season.

SHANE HORGAN believes the three major southern hemisphere unions are doing themselves no favours insisting all of their international players play for indigenous club sides and not in Europe.

IT MAY have taken Michael Cheika four seasons to build a squad capable of attaining Heineken European Cup glory, but the structures and foundations appear to be in place within the province to build on that success.

Michael Cheika has described Heineken Cup hero Johnny Sexton as the epitome of everything he is trying to achieve at Leinster.

SOME Leinster players couldn’t help but glance back at the past, to the long road they had travelled and some of their fellow travellers who never made it to the end.

LET’S rewind the tape back six weeks or so to The Stoop. Leinster’s Heineken Cup quarter-final against Harlequins is still a few hours away.

LEINSTER coach Michael Cheika has not given up hope of keeping Rocky Elsom at Leinster for another 12 months even if, ironically enough, the iron man from Melbourne might feel there’s little point in staying now simply because it’s a case of mission accomplished.

Leinster coach Michael Cheika has opted to retain Isa Nacewa ahead of Robert Kearney at full-back in the team to play the Leicester Tigers in Saturday's Heineken Cup final at Murrayfield (KO: 5pm).

NO-ONE would have taken too much notice of a certain Julien Dupuy going through the pre-match ritual of passing and kicking drills with Biarritz’s Dimitri Yachvili before the 2006 Heineken Cup final.

The phoney war has begun in earnest ahead of Saturday’s full-blooded Heineken Cup battle with both Leinster and Leicester insistent the other team are favourites.

LEINSTER scrum-half Chris Whitaker wants to make a winning departure from the province with this weekend’s Heineken Cup final, and he backs fellow Australian Rocky Elsom to make a significant contribution to the Irish side’s chances of beating Leicester this weekend in Edinburgh.

JOB done. Seven tries, just the one conceded and, most importantly, not an injury in sight.

Johnathan Sexton and Sean O'Brien will start for Leinster against The Scarlets in Friday night's Magners League clash at The RDS (kick off: 7.45pm) has been named.

Rob Kearney, a victim of the mumps, returns to the Leinster squad to face The Scarlets in Friday night's Magners League clash at The RDS (kick off: 7.45pm).

Wallaby lock JUSTIN HARRISON throws the spotlight on the Australian influence in tomorrow’s Heineken Cup semi-final – and reveals Michael Cheika’s pugilistic prowess.

JUST one more interminable day to go now before the mother of all Irish derbies, but the highlight of Chris Whitaker’s season, of his entire stay here in Ireland, has already come and gone. His wife Alison gave birth to their third child a few weeks back and the Whitakers now have three delicate, precious buds to nurture in the shapes of Lilly Rose, Jasmine Blossom and, the latest arrival, Poppy Petal.

TWO key pillars of Michael Cheika’s Heineken Cup-chasing Leinster squad have come in for stinging criticism from one of their most famous past players.

Leinster coach Michael Cheika has included his two injury concerns, Rob Kearney and CJ van der Linde, in his preliminary squad to play Munster in Saturday's Heineken Cup semi final at Croke Park (5.30pm).

Leinster 36 Glasgow Warriors 13

Leinster coach Michael Cheika has named his starting 15 for the province's Magners League clash with Glasgow Warriors tomorrow.

Four British & Irish Lions Brian O'Driscoll, Jamie Heaslip, Rob Kearney and Luke Fitzgerald have been included in the Leinster squad to face the Glasgow Warriors in Saturday's Magners League clash at The RDS (KO: 7.35pm).

MUNSTER and Leinster appear to have completely different priorities as they face into another round of Magners League action this weekend.

FIRST off, fair play to Harlequins for shunning the extra few quid they would have made by taking this one down the road to Twickenham and staying put at the Stoop, population 12,638.

Leinster's Brian O'Driscoll, Luke Fitzgerald and Bernard Jackman have been passed fit to play against Harlequins in Sunday afternoon's Heineken Cup Quarter Final in The Twickenham Stoop (KO: 3.30pm).

Leinster will go into their Magner's League derby against Munster without Brian O'Driscoll at Thomond Park on Saturday night (KO: 7.30pm).

Sprinbok CJ van der Linde, an injury doubt, has been included in the extended 29-man Leinster squad to play Munster in Saturday night's Magners League clash at Thomond Park (KO: 7.30pm).

Leinster 32 Ulster 6

Ireland Grand Slam hero Gordn D'Arcy will start at centre fo Leinster against Ulster in Sunday's Magners League clash at The RDS (5.30pm).

Grand Slam winner Gordon D'Arcy, Captain Leo Cullen and CJ van der Linde return to the Leinster squad to play Ulster in Sunday's Magners League clash at the RDS (KO: 5.30pm).

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.

Paul O'Donohoe will start at scrum-half for Leinster against The Ospreys in Friday night's Magners League clash at the Liberty Stadium (7.05pm).

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.

Ireland international Gordon D'Arcy will have another chance to prove his match sharpness to Declan Kidney for Leinster against the Ospreys in Friday night's Magners League clash at the Liberty Stadium (7.05pm).

Captain Leo Cullen and prop CJ van der Linde are not included in the Leinster squad to play Edinburgh in Sunday's Heineken Cup Pool 2 clash at the RDS (KO: 1pm).

Hooker Bernard Jackman returns to an extended 26-man Leinster squad for their Heineken Cup battle with London Wasps at Twickenham on Saturday (KO: 5.35pm).

Leinster welcome back captain Leo Cullen and Springbok Ollie Le Roux to the Leinster fold for the Magner's Leauge appointment with the Cardiff Blues at The RDS tomorrow night (KO: 7.30pm).

Robert Kearney has finally been given the chance to play in his favoured full-back position for Leinster at home to Connacht in Friday night’s Magners League clash at the RDS (KO: 7.30pm).

Shane Horgan, Shane Jennings, CJ van der Linde and Brian O'Driscoll return to the squad to face Connacht in Friday night's Magners League clash at the RDS.