Best of enemies renew great rivalry

Familiarity may well breed contempt, but when Leinster meet Ospreys at the Liberty Stadium this week it will mark a rare Heineken Cup venture to Wales for a side otherwise well acquainted with the Principality.

In the past eight seasons, Scarlets are the one Welsh team to have faced Leinster in the pool stages, which they did twice. Other than that, the only meeting of note was a quarter-final shellacking of Cardiff Blues at the Aviva Stadium two years ago.

It’s just one strange quirk in a tournament that delights in them and a new chapter will be added to the keen rivalry that exists between Leinster and the Ospreys when the two sides meet for the first time in the continent’s premier cup competition this weekend.