Match Thread: Leinster Rugby vs Biarritz Olympique, Saturday 27th April 14:30, SS1

And this is the Word of the BOD.

Tomorrow Leinster take on Biarritz in the RDS in the Amlin Challenge Cup semi-final. After a long and arduous season which has contained far more than it's fair share of injuries, a problem that continues to haunt the Leinster side, there is still the possiblity of a European and league double on the horizon. A massive positive given all of the issues and disruptions over the last 8 months. However it's all knock-out rugby from here. And Biarritz showed in the Amlin quarter-final that they are well capable of performing on the road.

Leinster are missing Gordon D'Arcy and Sean O'Brien due to injury, adding to a list which already contains Eoin Reddan, Luke Fitzgerald and Dave Kearney. The loss of these 2 sees Shane Jennings take the openside jersey and Ian Madigan surprisingly moving to inside centre ahead of Andrew Goodman. The rest of the side is fairly predictable with Toner getting the nod in the second row ahead of Quinn Roux, who is on the bench.

The inclusion of Madigan at 12 with Jonathan Sexton at 10 is an interesting call and likely gives us an idea of how Leinster are looking to play the game. With 2 first receivers behind a back row built for the breakdown it certainly looks like Leinster are going to look to play a fast paced game, changing the point of attack and keeping the Biarritz defense guessing. With Boss as a breaking threat who should have options on either side, plus Kearney joining the line similar to the way he did last year Leinster have plenty of options in attack. If this is the game plan then ball retention is key. The forwards will need to ensure quick, clean ball for Boss to work with. Boss himself then will need to be decisive and accurate. This game requires the Leinster we saw at the latter half of last season. And thus far we have yet to see it this season.

Biarritz went to Gloucester and won 3 weeks ago. The not only won, they won well. They were better in nearly every aspect of play than Gloucester. They need to win the Amlin to qualify for the Heineken Cup next season so will be really gunning for this Leinster side. I'm sure they did their analysis too of the Wasps game where the pacey Christian Wade caused Leinsters defence all kinds of problems. With a certain Zimbabwean winger lining up opposite Isa Nacewa I'm sure they'd love to get him running at Leinster line. The Biarritz pack seriously out-muscled the Gloucester pack a few weeks ago as well, although how much we can read into that Gloucester game I'm not sure. Gloucester were quite poor on the day and gave up some very soft scores. If Leinster can tighten up their defense then they should have enough to win out. But I've a feeling this game will be won and lost based on Leinsters defensive effort.

I am very excited to see how the Leinster midfield works tomorrow. If Sexton can pull the strings the way we've seen him do before then the talent outside of him in Madigan and O'Driscoll could cause Biarritz some serious issues. And with the number of attacking options Leinster have you'd have to back them to cross the line a few times. Madigan is an excellent defender at 10, so if he can bring that to 12 then our midfield should be fairly solid in that respect. I expect to see Healy, Strauss and Heaslip carrying a lot of ball up the middle. Leinster will try to suck in the Biarritz defense and use the attacking options out wide. Fergus McFaddens pace could come in very useful there. If they can drag the Biarritz defense from side to side and retain possession well holes will appear. And who better to exploit those holes than Sexton, Madigan, BOD and Kearney. I'm going with Leinster by 7, but as above that all hangs on our defensive work and our ball retention. Get those right and we should win it. Fail to and Biarritz could find themselves in the RDS again in a few weeks.