Kidney has high hopes Irish teams can make semi-finals

LEINSTER coach and former Munster mastermind, Declan Kidney, accepts that both provinces face difficult tasks in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals - but insists they can raise their games to a sufficient level to provide Ireland with two of the four semi-finalists.

“Drawing Leicester is as tough a home draw as you can possibly get,” said Kidney. “Historically, the aim was to ensure a home quarter-final and take what comes after that. Leicester will bring 15,000 supporters to Lansdowne Road and their team is full of high-class players who know the ground extremely well after so many Six Nations appearances.

“Guys like Martin Johnson and Neil Back have retired from international rugby and so will be fresher and the same could also apply to people like Harry Ellis and Ben Kay. And they have strength in depth - they have Welsh prop Darren Morris to come on for Graham Rowntree. They are not the top team in the Zurich Premiership for nothing,” Kidney said.