Bath making money work

Look in isolation at Leinster’s Rugby Champions Cup quarter-final with Bath at the Aviva Stadium today, and it is tempting to ponder what, if anything, has changed in this tweaked version of Europe’s premier club competition.

With more than 40,000 people set to pitch up to Ballsbridge to see the three-time champions start as favourites, this is a game framed by familiar trappings, and yet the wider picture speaks volumes for how the ground has shifted underneath.

Leinster are the only Irish, and indeed Pro12, representative left standing at the first knockout stage. The other three quarter-finals will all be played on French soil with English sides making up the visiting brigades for the full quartet of fixtures.