Schmidt’s insight vital as Leinster enter Clermont’s fortress

NO Brian O’Driscoll, no Rob Kearney, no Luke Fitzgerald and — thanks to the weather — not a proper training session in two weeks.

On the face of it, not exactly the most promising set of circumstances for a side hoping to ransack what is routinely considered to be one of European rugby’s more imposing fortresses this weekend.

And yet… three sides have bettered Clermont Auvergne at the Stade Marcel Michelin in the Heineken Cup since Leinster first did so back in 2002 — a fact that gains in significance given the French side sat out the competition in three of those intervening years.