Leinster's love of adventure can pay off in the long run

Bath v Leinster: The 26th US President might not have been well versed in Leinster rugby but his words carry a certain resonance for supporters and players of the Irish province.

Life is rarely dull when Leinster take the field and under their current coach Michael Cheika they have frequently dismantled what passed for a safety net.

There is an aspirational quality to Leinster's patterns that precludes a middle ground. When they are good they can scale the heights of the modern game - athletic, cavalier and effective - but the flip side is a style of play that gambles on the margins and loses.

It's not that Cheika disdains the basics or chases style to the exclusion of substance; it's just his charges are still trying to assimilate the new patterns in the Australian's first season in charge.

Piquantly, his Bath counterpart at the Recreation Ground today, the former Ireland coach Brian Ashton, would approve. The Lancastrian has long been a devotee of enterprise and flair, of removing players from the comfort zone and challenging them to think for themselves.

Bath's abject Guinness Premiership form is in marked contrast to the relative ease with which they have cut a swathe through their Heineken European Cup pool.

The main accusation against the English club is that are totally reliant on the muscularity of their pack, that the back line are more than occasional bystanders. Ashton won't tolerate that imbalance, but whether he has had enough time to appreciably tweak the patterns in the three weeks since taking over is debatable - though his fingerprints will assuredly be on one or two gambits.

Ashton's decision to make five changes from the Bath team that started against Bourgoin is a little surprising and the absence of former French international wing David Bory and number eight Zak Feaunati something of a bonus for Leinster.

Andrew Higgins and new Welsh squad member Gareth Delve are accomplished players but not yet quite as good as those for whom they deputise. Bory is away attending to business in France while Feaunati is rested.

Lee Mears returns at hooker while Matt Stevens is preferred to Duncan Bell at tighthead prop. Andy Beattie is included in the backrow ahead of Peter Short with a fit-again James Scaysbrook among the replacements.

Ashton balks at the suggestion Bath have one eye on the quarter-final for which they have already qualified.

"There is no mission accomplished until we play a home quarter-final," he says. "When you play on a European stage it is by definition a big game. A side like Leinster with the players they have in their 15 are strong, and this is a massive challenge for us.

"We approach this game wanting to continue the momentum that we started to build in the second half of the game against Bourgoin and we are also playing at home and do not want to lose."

Leinster welcome back Will Green and Jamie Heaslip to the pack, both of whom missed the win over Glasgow.

The Leinster eight have been relentlessly written off, disparaged as inadequate in comparison to Bath's leviathans. Recall the first game at the RDS and there certainly wasn't anything like that discrepancy. It'll be about concentration and technique at scrum time and Leinster can't afford to lose either.

The corresponding fixture last season at tomorrow's venue saw Leinster's lineout obliterated and yet they still won the game. A successful lineout functions at pace: no shuffling, no self-doubt. Therein lies the rub for the Irish province. They have a much more talented back line, all potential match winners, who don't need a pack to dominate.

Leinster didn't defend well the last day, lacking aggression, a quality they will desperately need tomorrow. The defensive line has to come forward not by rote but with intent. Individual responsibility must underpin the common effort.

This Leinster team has shown glimpses of where it can go and what it can achieve when focused. Tomorrow would be an opportune moment to reinforce that sense of excellence.

Bath: M Stephenson; A Higgins, T Cheeseman, S Finau, F Welsh; O Barkley, N Walshe; D Flatman, L Mears, M Stevens; S Borthwick (capt), D Grewcock; A Beattie, M Lipman, G Delve. Replacements: P Dixon, D Bell, P Short, J Scaysbrook, J Hudson, A Williams, C Malone.

Leinster: G Dempsey; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll (capt), G D'Arcy, D Hickie; F Contepomi, G Easterby; R Corrigan, B Blaney, W Green; M O'Kelly, B Williams; C Jowitt, K Gleeson, J Heaslip. Replacements: D Blaney, R McCormack, A Byrnes, E Miller, B O'Riordan, K Lewis, R Kearney.

Referee: N Owens (Wales).

Previous meetings: (EC, October 2004) Leinster 30 Bath 11; (EC January 2005) Bath 23 Leinster 27; (EC October 2005) Leinster 19 Bath 22.

Formguide: Leinster - 19-22 v Bath (h); 33-20 v Glasgow (a); 53-7 v Bourgoin (h); 28-30 v Bourgoin (a); 44-22 v Glasgow (h). Bath - 22-19 v Leinster (a); 39-12 v Bourgoin (h); 31-26 v Glasgow Warriors (h); 29-10 v Glasgow Warriors (a); 22-9 v Bourgoin (a).

Leading points scorers: Bath - Ollie Barkley 60. Leinster - Felipe Contepomi 89.

Leading try scorers: Bath - Michael Lipman 2. Leinster - Felipe Contepomi 5.

Odds: Bath 8/13, draw 20/1, Leinster 5/4. (Handicap Leinster +3) Leinster 10/11, draw 18/1, Bath 10/11.

Verdict: Leinster to win.