Leinster v Wasps

Without wanting to put a curse on the scoreline I do not foresee any result that does not see an absolute hatful of tries, no matter how defensively strong Leinster have become under the stewardship of Stuart Lancaster.

Wasps were denied a home quarter-final by a refereeing mistake in injury time at Connacht and wow, have they been made to pay. Even so, they will go to Dublin and play.

We know all about their star names in the back line; Kurtley Beale, Willie le Roux, Jimmy Gopperth, Danny Cipriani and Christian Wade are all lethal individuals.

But that would be to miss their unique selling point, and the use of the ‘pull-back’ pass. There is no question Cipriani and Gopperth are the best at this at the moment. They both have the ability to head to the gain line with a threatening runner outside them and, for all the money in the world, the pass looks guaranteed to hit that runner, only for one of them to whip their wrists at the last moment and drag the ball in behind the decoy and hit a deeper runner arriving at pace and attacking the outside channels.

I would go as far as saying that Cipriani is the best at it in the northern hemisphere and I have been marvelling at his dexterity.

They can pack a punch up front as well, before you think they are all glory and no grit. But at European quarter-final level the Wasps forwards will have to produce their finest hour to give their backs a platform and halt the avalanche of power runners that Leinster can call upon.

My worry for Wasps is when they have the ball, they will be swamped by men in blue winning the fringe contact battles and, with it, outnumbering Cipriani and friends in the wide channels, making their decoy runners obsolete.

When Leinster have it, Jack McGrath, Tadhg Furlong, Sean O’Brien and the scarily strong Robbie Henshaw at 12 can dent Wasps with holes below the waterline. And these can guys can play when they want to.

Garry Ringrose was sensational against England; wiry, lean, long leg stride but with an ability to dance like Justin Timberlake in confined spaces.

For Adam Byrne and Christian Wade on the wings, if they ever wanted a platform to dazzle and grab a long-shot slot on the Lions tour then this is their last-chance saloon.

Wasps go with a real chance of victory but my worry for them is the space to play in will be limited by a huge, almost full Ireland team pack. Unless Wasps rattle the scoreboard with every chance offered, Leinster will emerge victors.