Cheika set for ’Quins challenge

IT CAME as a surprise yesterday when Michael Cheika admitted there was a touch of nervousness in the Leinster squad when they gathered for training on Monday morning.

The Australian has spent four years diluting the significance of every big game the province have played, burying each one under an avalanche of cliches, but there can be no disguising the import of Sunday’s visit to the Stoop.

The Magners League was all but ceded to Munster in Thomond Park on Saturday but it is Europe where Leinster have longed to succeed for so long and their desperation has grown with each premature exit.