Corrigan warns Leinster to be on alert for Tigers
Leicester scraped through as the second best qualifiers after edging out defending champions Wasps in their pool, topped by Biarritz.
Leinster, meanwhile, are the only unbeaten side in the competition but feel they have received little reward for being top seeds.
“Leicester are one of toughest teams in Europe and by getting the number one slot you would have thought we might have got someone slightly easier,” Corrigan said.
“They are a real superpower and a fantastic team who are well and truly on the way back up. They have been rebuilding for the last couple of seasons after winning those two finals in 2001 and 2002 but now they are right back up at the top. It is going to be a very difficult match for us, even playing at Lansdowne Road.”
A 47,000 sell-out crowd will cram into Lansdowne Road on Saturday.
But Leicester’s pedigree in the competition is daunting. They won those back-to-back titles and in reaching the last eight this year proved just how dogged a side they can be.
“They have vast experience in players like Martin Johnson and Neil Back and they won’t feel intimidated playing in Dublin,” said Corrigan.
“I am hoping that home advantage might give us just the lift we need to make it through to the semi-finals.
“We were desperately disappointed to go out in the semi-final stage two years ago to Perpignan. A lot of those involved in that match are still in the squad and we want to make up for that disappointment.”
Leicester have proven fallible this season, as defeat to Leeds in the Zurich Premiership at the weekend indicated. But resident Irishman, Geordan Murphy, insisted there is no panic in the camp.
“If we had done well against Leeds everyone would’ve said, ‘Right, no worries, we’re all set’. We know what we have to do and how to do it.”
Murphy, who lined out for Ireland a fortnight ago, will be playing for the opposition this weekend.
“This time Geordan will be against us rather than for us as he was in the Six Nations. Everyone knows he is a fantastic player and Leicester have those sort of players right across their team,” said Corrigan.
Murphy said: “The shoe’s on the other foot now. I know they’ll be looking to attack us up front and take us on, but at the same time I think our backs also have a point to prove against their star-studded backline.
“It looks like Gordon D’Arcy will play. If they can field D’Arcy and O’Driscoll at centre, Shane Horgan and Denis Hickie on the wing we’ll have our hands full. We can’t give them any space.”
The Tigers are determined to give Johnson, Back and John Wells the greatest of send-offs by lifting the Heineken Cup for the third time.
England prop Graham Rowntree says they want Johnson, Back and coach Wells to bow out as three-time winners at Murrayfield in May.
Rowntree said: “It’s all there for us this season. We’ve reached the quarter-finals, we’ve got some key players and our coach leaving at the end of the campaign and we’ve got all the determination in the world.
“I just feel it is our time. We owe it to people like Martin Johnson, Neil Back and John Wells to send them off in the best possible way.”
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