Leinster's reality check awaits in the long grass

Victor Costello interview:Not much has changed since Leinster and Leicester tangled back in April 2005 at Lansdowne Road. The English champions keep on accumulating silverware while Leinster frustrate with snippets of brilliance, ultimately overshadowed by failure to deliver at decisive moments.

Once more they find themselves at the crossroads.

"The public will know where Irish rugby is at by Sunday morning," says Victor Costello, the former number eight, who in retirement decamped to Florida to complete his pilot licence - he still watches games on digital.

"If we get a good win then we are back on track. The same applies to Munster and Ulster. If we get hammered then everyone could be in for a bleak 18 months."

Leinster remain the great unfulfilled club of Northern Hemisphere rugby while Leicester, regardless of the turnover of coaches and leaders, continue to clean up. Last season the Tigers were only denied the treble by a couple of Wasps sucker punches in the European Cup final. They had to be satisfied with a domestic double.

Costello's last European Cup match was the 2005 quarter-final defeat. Controversially dropped by then coach Declan Kidney, by the time he entered the fray Leinster were 16-3 in arrears. The 29-13 final score actually flattered them.

It was an all too familiar theme for those who regularly attend matches in the Dublin 4 area. Leinster powered out of Pool 2 beating Treviso, Bourgoin and Bath both home and away before it all began to unravel the week of the season defining game.

Word broke that Kidney was returning to Munster. Costello confirmed this did unsettle the camp but it was the coach's team selection, particularly the backrow, that sent the rumour mill into overdrive.

Costello, counting the days to retirement, was dropped for young Ciarán Potts, who has since been forced to quit professional rugby due to injury.

Potts had a nightmare, getting sin binned for obstruction before being replaced by Costello eight minutes into the second half with Leicester almost out the gate.

"At the time being dropped was the biggest thing in my life as I wanted to finish my career on a high, playing with my friends.

"I know that game affected Ciarán Potts. He was playing up a level from what he was used to. When I was coming on I looked and saw a dishevelled kid who had a career ahead of him whereas my career was behind me. I was delighted to come on, I got a great roar from the crowd, I was very proud and I played relatively well.

"Afterwards, the papers said, ah, if Victor was on we would have won it, which was complete rubbish."

By the hour mark Leinster had been humiliated, gutted by the ruthless Tigers' eight, where the destructive artistry of Lewis Moody and Neil Back were particularly prominent.

A less than 100-per-cent fit Keith Gleeson also got the nod over Shane Jennings at openside - a conundrum presented to Michael Cheika again this week.

Back admitted his pleasure at Jennings's omission having already identified him as the ideal candidate to fill the void from his imminent retirement ("I'd almost be pleased he is not playing," he said just days before the game). Leo Cullen also headed to Welford Road to replace Martin Johnson.

These weren't the only turnovers. Costello retired and David Holwell returned to New Zealand. The biggest stinger of all though was Kidney's premature departure home.

"There was a huge amount of respect from players who dealt with him at the World Cup (2003) and at underage. Unfortunately he probably would have lost a bit of that respect.

"He went back to Munster where it all began and at the time people would have said well he can't coach outside of Munster and he was going to go to Gwent Dragons but didn't go . . . but the following year he won the Heineken Cup.

"Like everything in rugby if you pick the ball and drive it and it's the wrong decision you can make it the right decision."

Anyway, Leinster went to Toulouse and won in Cheika's first campaign before being destroyed by Kidney's Munster en route to their most famous day. Lansdowne Road now the scene for three European semi-final defeats. The 2004/'05 season, like so many before and since, began with Leinster performances of unlimited promise only to end in acrimony.

"You cannot go into a game against Leicester with any element of doubt. It can be seen as the same thing at the moment with Cheika and Knox's contracts ending at the end of this season. It's a relatively unstable coaching environment.

"2005 was, much like it is now, a desperate rush to get guys up and running again after the Six Nations. The disadvantage of playing Leicester is they pretty much have a standard that they won't ever drop. Week on week."

If the Leinster cycle is not broken tomorrow - or at least some day - it will become the rugby epitaph for this group.

Unwarranted, perhaps, considering their vast potential but reality is coming to Ballsbridge tomorrow lunchtime in the form of the Leicester Tigers.