Leicester ‘a great challenge’, warns Schmidt

LEINSTER coach Joe Schmidt admitted “things could have worked out easier” after a late twist of fate pitted his side against Leicester Tigers in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals.

Wasps’ late 21-16 win over Toulouse yesterday meant it was Pool 2 winners Leinster who qualified as the second seeds. The pairing with Leicester is a repeat of the 2009 Heineken Cup final at Murrayfield — which Leinster won. The winners will face either Biarritz and Toulouse in the last four, with the added incentive for Leinster of a semi at the Aviva Stadium.

Schmidt said: “The draw was always going to be complicated. We are happy to be home for the first part. But it is a great challenge.”

Schmidt believes Leinster chiefs will switch the game from their traditional home in the RDS to the 50,000 capacity Aviva Stadium for the Leicester showdown.

“We have fantastic support this year. Part of our motivation going to Racing Metro on Friday night was to (gain a home quarter-final) help our supporters get the game. We have two good results in the Aviva and two good games which were well supported. With the quality of the opposition, the fact that it is a repeat of the final two years ago and that Leicester are the perennial champions in England, there will be a fair few travelling. It may help our supporter base to take the game to the Aviva,” he told RTÉ Radio.

But Schmidt warned: “The Heineken Cup is a difficult tournament to predict. This game is two months away. In that time we will have our Magners League games but we will be minus our internationals and those internationals will be in a different environment for that time. It is a long break and a fractured build-up. The competition for places in the squad is fantastic. But we have that two months break. I hope everyone stays sound and I have the same (selection) headache when it comes to the quarter-final time.”

Ulster’s Director of Rugby, David Humphreys, has stressed his the province will “relish the opportunity” of facing top seeds Northampton in the last eight. And he revealed that the side wouldn’t be resting on their laurels after securing a place in the knock out stages for the first time in 12 years.

“Northampton will certainly provide us with a big challenge. They’ve plenty of depth and they’re not the number 1 seed for nothing. But just because we’ve reached the knockout stages of the competition for the first time in a long time doesn’t mean that we’re happy to settle for that. We’ll go into the game as the underdog, but that suits us fine. There’s a self-belief within our squad, we’ve recorded wins on the road in all competitions and we’ll relish the opportunity ahead of us.”

Meanwhile. Leinster have leapfrogged Northampton and Toulouse as the new 9/4 favourites to win the Heineken Cup with Ladbrokes. The firm have Munster 2/1 favourites to win the Amlin Challenge Cup.

Heineken Cup betting: Leinster 9/4, Northampton 7/2, Toulouse 5/1, Leicester 6/1, Perpignan 8/1, Biarritz 12/1, Ulster 14/1, Toulon 14/1.