Three weeks to remove the rust

IF only Croke Park was available for this one. Leinster v Munster in the semi-final of the Heineken Cup. What a boost for the Irish game coming on top of the Triple Crown glory of two weeks ago.

Inevitably, Lansdowne Road won’t be able to cope with the demand to witness first hand this mouth-watering occasion and the desperate search for tickets is already well under way. Hopefully, the corporate sector will be told where to go this time and the real fans will get there instead.

It will be some occasion and while Leinster, after their heroics in Toulouse, have been understandably installed as favourites, it’s not quite as simple as that. True, Leinster looked a class act and a side that had been together every day for the last couple of months in running up 41 points in Toulouse, and Munster were frequently ill at ease and visibly rusty against Perpignan.