Kane Douglas still out for Leinster but Fergus McFadden set to return

Leinster must do without the world class second row - a Brad Thorn or Nathan Hines - that has traditionally played a fundamental role in them reaching European finals as Wallaby lock Kane Douglas is still struggling with a back injury.

Douglas, who arrived straight from the southern hemisphere season, has failed to command a starting place in Matt O’Connor’s starting XV.

“Kane, who has missed the last few weeks, is still struggling with his back and hasn’t been on the field yet,” said Leo Cullen. “It’s a disc issue, they’re still hoping it will settle down but it’s not looking great for him at this stage.”

Otherwise they are in decent shape. Fergus McFadden and the raft of players nursing knocks from the Bath quarter-final and Six Nations have trained this week.

“Fergus is fine,” Cullen continued. “He did return to play protocols.”

Shane Jennings is currently undergoing return to play protocols following concussion last Sunday against the Dragons which indicates Dominic Ryan will, again, provide backrow cover behind Jamie Heaslip, Sean O'Brien and Jordi Murphy.

"Rob Kearney, Sean Cronin, Cian Healy, Ian Madigan - they all had bangs from the Bath game and Six Nations but they should all be back in the mix."

The other pillar of reliability, which Leinster have built three European titles upon, is their defence. The porous nature of the blue line this season has almost certainly ruled them out of the Pro 12 play-offs.

"Parts of the Bath game our defence was pretty good," Cullen responded. "We got bust a couple of times by George Ford [resulting in two tries] when we were got caught drifting off. A little lapse in concentration. We have talked about it. It's important that guys are getting set coming off the line, staying square and not drifting off those threats."

Where, Jimmy Gopperth is asked, will a Leinster defensive performance comparable to previous seasons come from?

“It’s just a mindset,” said Gopperth. “You got to go in there ready to tackle, get right up in their face with massive line speed and really just hoe into them. We got to make our one-on-one’s otherwise they will be offloading and twenty metres in behind the gainline. We know that.

“This week is just about preparing mentally for those challenges.”

But that mindset has been absent of late. It magnifies the focus on Matt O’Connor’s new look midfield trio of Gopperth, Ian Madigan and rugby league convert Ben Te’o. Gordon D’Arcy is to provide cover with the same 23 man squad that O’Connor named against Bath expected for Sunday.

“Leinster got a good belief here,” Gopperth added. “We thrive in those last 10, 15 minutes. If we are in touch we definitely got a good chance.

“People are always going to question your ability, question why you are doing things. If the team is not going well the first thing they do is question the coaching but that’s got nothing to do with it. Our coaches put in a perfect plan for us each week it is up to us to go out and execute it.

“We have been poor this year. We haven’t gelled together. We have been a little unfortunate with a lot of internationals coming and going.

There have been a lot of disruptions but we have to be better than that, make the opportunities count when we where the blue jersey.

“It’s come down to 80 minutes away from being either a good season or a very, very poor season.”