THE answer to the above question that has dominated Irish rugby for the past 10 weeks will be provided at 1.30 this afternoon when Declan Kidney announces his Ireland team to play Italy in the RBS Six Nations Championship at Croke Park on Saturday.

THE inactivity caused by the big freeze of recent weeks showed in Leinster’s lacklustre performance for much of this Heineken Cup clash against Brive on Saturday night before the champions upped gears to secure a bonus point victory.

JONATHAN SEXTON will return to the Leinster side for Saturday’s Heineken Cup clash with Brive and kickstart a fascinating battle for the No 10 jersey ahead of Ireland’s Six Nations Championship campaign.

AS DRESS rehearsals go, this was up there with the best. Ireland’s display against the inexperienced but gritty Fijians left coach Declan Kidney smiling despite the selection headaches he faces ahead of Saturday’s date with world champions South Africa.

LEO CULLEN is back to provide a captain’s guiding hand for Leinster in Saturday’s Magners League Halloween clash with Cardiff Blues at the RDS.

LEINSTER coach Michael Cheika is a straight-talking Aussie who would evidently lose it if he suspected even a scintilla of complacency in the camp ahead of Saturday’s final of the Heineken Cup at Murrayfield.

LEINSTER coach Michael Cheika has a guilt complex about playing Shane Jennings at number six rather than open side flanker following the latter’s exclusion from Ireland’s Six Nations squad.

THE Leinster sports psychologists and chaplins will be kept busy this week.

SHANE HORGAN is poised to equal Reggie Corrigan’s Leinster Heineken Cup record of 61 caps against Toulouse on Sunday.

ARGENTINA’S World Cup star Felipe Contepomi is ready to launch another team towards tournament glory this weekend.

IT DIDN’T say much for the quality of the game that Christian Warner, Leinster’s goal kicker, won the man of the match award at the RDS in Dublin last night.

KEITH GLEESON is named in the Leinster team to meet Connacht at the RDS tonight (7.30pm).

STEPHEN KEOGH is battling to be fit for Saturday’s Heineken Cup quarter-final against London Wasps in Adams Park (5.45pm, Sky Sports).

LEINSTER coach Michael Cheika expressed relief after Saturday’s Magners League derby victory and acknowledged his side must improve drastically if they are to overcome Wasps in the Heineken Cup next weekend.

IRELAND coach Eddie O’Sullivan admitted on Saturday night that he and his players were “a bit down in the mouth” at finishing runners-up to France for the second successive year in the RBS Six Nations Championship in spite of racking up 51 points against Italy at the Stadio Flaminio.

THE padlocks on the gates of Lansdowne Road dictate that a ‘home’ Heineken Cup quarter-final draw is beyond their control but Leinster are adamant that their final Pool 2 game at Kingsholm next Friday is anything but a dead rubber.

“YOU don’t beat Munster twice in the same season,” has long been a mantra of the European champions and it’s one that will be put to a severe test at Thomond Park this afternoon (3pm, Setanta Sports) when Leinster make their first visit in nine years to the famous Limerick venue for an eagerly-awaited Magners League tie.

THE big boys are back for Leinster and Munster — most of them at least.

New Zealand 34 Ireland 23

AS Leinster prepare for the Battle of Ireland on Saturday, Brian O’Driscoll has suspended cordial relations with his Triple Crown winning Munster colleagues.

IT’S a big occasion for Leinster’s player of the season, Felipe Contepomi, in tonight’s Celtic League clash with Llanelli Scarlets at Lansdowne Road (7.10pm).

England 24 Ireland 28

Ireland 26 Italy 16

LEINSTER coach Michael Cheika has all but given up on Will Green for Saturday’s Heineken Cup clash against Glasgow (RDS, 5.15pm. RTÉ Two).

Leinster 35 Munster 23

LEINSTER will roll out two of the big names for tomorrow night’s Celtic League clash with leaders Ulster at Donnybrook (5.30).

INTERNATIONAL trio Malcolm O’Kelly, Shane Horgan and Denis Hickie will be sprung from the bench if things go wrong for Leinster against Glasgow in the Celtic Cup quarter-final at Lansdowne Road tonight (7.30).

AS always, Declan Kidney had a phrase to deal with a given situation.

MUNSTER’S travel jinx struck again yesterday when the team had to endure a five hour delay en-route to Wales for a Celtic League game with Celtic Warriors this evening.

GLOUCESTER hooker Chris Fortey will miss Saturday’s Heineken Cup Pool Five game against Munster at Kingsholm.

ARGENTINEAN international Felipe Contepomi will make his debut for Leinster in their Celtic League tie against Neath/Swansea at the Gnoll on Saturday (5.30pm).

NEATH-SWANSEA Ospreys don’t quite know what to expect when they take on Leinster at Donnybrook this evening in the Celtic Cup quarter-final.

ERIC MILLER is back to challenge for a place on the Irish team, but more importantly Leinster coach Matt Williams is delighted to have him available for the province in Montferrand tomorrow.

Leinster 29

MALCOLM O’KELLY may have to share a rugby ball with Shane Horgan when they run out to face Connacht in the Celtic League at Donnybrook tomorrow evening (7.35pm).

IRISH international Shane Horgan is back in training and could be ready for action within the next two weeks.

NEW MUNSTER coach Alan Gaffney has no major injury worries other than long term injuries ahead of his side’s Celtic League opener against Llanelli on Saturday.