Dempsey: Leinster relishing Twickenham clash

GIRVAN DEMPSEY believes he and his Leinster colleagues will benefit from playing Saturday’s must-win Heineken Cup clash with Wasps at Twickenham.

Dempsey was one of the five Leinster players who featured in Ireland’s 28-24 victory over England in the Six Nations clash at the famous London ground in 2006 and the Irish province supplied a third of the national team two years later for the corresponding match.

Wasps trail Leinster by three points in the chase for an automatic last eight place as the group winners with the “Battle of the Capitals” set to have a major say in deciding the pool.

“This is the big one — made all the bigger after our Round 4 slip-up at Castres Olympique,” admitted Dempsey, who has racked up 63 Heineken Cup appearances.

“It meant we didn’t come away with the win we wanted and needed and that, along with Wasps beating Edinburgh, opened up the pool.

“It makes this is our make-or-break pool game and, as Twickenham is such a special ground, we just hope the game lives up to its billing. And if you look across our squad not only have a lot of the boys played at Twickenham but there are others, like Rocky Elsom and CJ van der Linde, who have plenty of the big match experience playing at some of the biggest grounds in the world.

“The players certainly will not be daunted by either the size of the ground or the crowd and playing at Twickenham will only inspire us as not only do we love performing at these sort of stadiums but a lot of us also have good memories of previous games there and we have got a fantastic travelling support.

“And we will not be dwelling on the last game against Wasps, we will treat this as an entirely fresh game. Wasps are now a totally different side to the one we played in October and have recently hit some good form — and when they do that and their confidence is up, they are a very difficult side to beat.”

Leinster scored six tries in that Round 2 contest — two of them coming from Brian O’Driscoll — with their three bonus points overall the difference between the sides.

That win was sandwiched by other victories over Edinburgh and Castres Olympique — before the French club produced a major upset with an 18-15 triumph at Stade Pierre-Antoine in Round 4.

“We know that Wasps are very physical at ruck time and we will have to be more clinical in clearing out and getting the ball away quickly for our backs,” said Dempsey. “Our consistency is a lot better this season but we still have a few elements that need sorting out.

“We have been generally happy with our performances this season — aside from the losses in Galway and Castres — and over in France we know that some of our fundamentals let us down, including conceding far too many turnovers.”