I’M WEL AWARE

Henshaw knows Blues must be at best in Leicester

ROBBIE HENSHAW claims that Leinster are ready to roll with the punches at Welford Road.

The Ireland centre insists the Blues have learned the hard way that they must be ruthless against Premiership leaders Leicester with a place in the Champions Cup semis up for grabs.

And Henshaw predicts his side have the ammunition to do that after the frontliners stayed home over the past fortnight while their colleagues played two URC games in South Africa.

“Absolutely, we’re 100% able to do it,” said Henshaw. “This will be tested this week. I’ve heard it from many a coach, you’ll never play the perfect game, you need to be ready for things to not go your way.

“Be ready for a punch in the face, that’s what they say. That’s the beauty of these games, when things don’t go right you need to be able to respond and that will be a challenge this week.

“If we do get it right it will go well for us but, if some things don’t go right, we’ll need to be ready to respond.”

Four years on from their last triumph, the Blues have had Euro heartbreak against Saracens twice and La Rochelle to reflect on.

The feeling is they were out-muscled on all three occasions but Henshaw concedes that Leo Cullen’s men were also out-smarted, particularly against Ronan O’gara’s La Rochelle last year.

He added: “These big games, these crunch games, knockout rugby, you need to really be on it and you need to take your opportunities.

“And that’s it, that’s kind of the story of the game last year. We didn’t take them and then they got their backs up just before half-time and got a bit of a roll on and that cost us. When we get our opportunities, we need to nail it.”

Henshaw says Leinster have had the legs “ran off us” by Stuart Lancaster in preparation for what’s to come.

But he added: “We know them and respect them but now it’s more flip the page to us and what we’re going to bring.”