Harlequins merit due respect before Leinster can start thinking of Cardiff

The Irish giants have certainly been eased gently into the knockout rounds, on the far side of the draw from the two Top 14 behemoths.

RESPECT: Leinster take on Harlequins at GAA HQ in Croke Park in the Champions Cup round of 16. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Here we go, then. All going well, today’s Champions Cup round of 16 tie against Harlequins at Croke Park will be the first of four games that will determine their entire season, the last of them obviously serving the role as the ultimate arbiter.

The expectation is that Leinster will whirl through this tie and the two that follow - all of them on home soil in Dublin - before their mettle will be tested fully again in the decider, at the Principality Stadium against either Toulouse or Bordeaux-Begles.