Leinster bade farewell to their Donnybrook fortress last week and this evening start what they hope will be a profitable time at their secondary home of Lansdowne Road. At stake tonight is the chance to return to the old ground tomorrow week for the inaugural Celtic League final.
Matt Williams has been telling his players all week that the move to Lansdowne Road has been the reward for their productive run at Donnybrook and elsewhere.
That he has even felt obliged to do this perhaps conveys a slight concern about losing that almost intangible factor called home advantage.
Donnybrook has become a real home this past couple of seasons and they have been unbeaten there in 17 successive games dating back to Munster's decisive interpro win in November 1999. So, there has always been a reluctance to move from the more atmospheric Donnybrook for potentially greater financial reward at Lansdowne Road.
The only other occasion Leinster reached a semi-final - in the inaugural year of the Heineken Cup - they lost to Cardiff at Lansdowne Road six seasons ago.
Still, Leinster scarcely bear even a passing resemblance to those far-flung semi-professional days and last week made a serious signal of intent when surviving a searching examination of their mental strength when beating Newport. As Williams points out, "that was Leinster's first win in the knockout phase of a tournament."
It gives Leinster a boost for this evening, although the suspicion lurks that they are not playing with the same fluidity as they were in the pool stages of this competition. With many of the side having been mainstays of their province's and international team's campaigns this season, there are clear signs of fatigue.
The nagging thought recurs too that Scottish sides have been a particular thorn in Leinster's side over the past few years, the province dropping seven points out of 10 in five meetings with various Scottish districts in the Heineken Cup.
Granted, the two sides swapped home wins in Europe two seasons ago, while Leinster did have the measure of Glasgow back in mid-August when winning a season opener by 39-11 in Donnybrook. Furthermore, Leinster didn't have Brian O'Driscoll, Nathan Spooner, Paul Wallace and Malcolm O'Kelly for that game so should, in theory, be stronger this time.
Glasgow retain 10 of that well beaten side tonight, but admittedly have improved since then - winning their last five Celtic games on the bounce and going to the top of the Welsh/Scottish League.
And as Williams points out, no one appreciates the merit of getting one over on Newport more than his team. The Leinster coach said: "It'll be nice to play someone who's not wearing black and gold for a change," in reference to three successive clashes with the Welsh men.
It doesn't necessarily tally that because Glasgow struggled to beat Connacht they'll roll over for Leinster. As their coach Richie Dixon argued after that game, they will probably find it easier to get themselves motivated for this encounter.
"Leinster are probably the form team in Europe at the moment," maintains their Scotland scrumhalf and Glasgow captain Andy Nicol. "They are unbeaten this season and the challenge doesn't get much bigger than playing them in Dublin.
"Our target has been to spend three successive weekends in Ireland. We have managed to make it two so far but now it is the big one ahead of us if we are to make it three. If we get to the final of a major competition - and the Celtic League is certainly a major tournament - that will give great credibility to Scottish rugby and will certainly be a huge boost for our professional game."
As Glasgow showed last week in Connacht, if James McLaren doesn't punch holes through the middle (and he did plenty of that) then Glasgow like to use the full width of the pitch, keeping the likes of Gordon Simpson and Gordon Bulloch out wide to hold their positions and bring the focal point of their attack from one flank to the other. "They keep you honest. They attack close-in and then they attack out wide. They will really test our defence out wide," admits Williams.
It's liable to be a wild, fluctuating affair, with a big lead carrying less assurances than normal given the try- scoring potential of both sides. As Williams points out, Glasgow are the kind of team whose attitude is, "if you score four tries then we'll score five." Leinster aren't quite so inclined toward the first half of the equation, but when push comes to shove, as they showed last week, they've invariably had that extra bit of potency when it has mattered.
LEINSTER: G Dempsey; D Hickie, B O'Driscoll, S Horgan, G D'Arcy; N Spooner, B O'Meara; R Corrigan (capt), S Byrne, P Wallace, L Cullen, M O'Kelly, E Miller, V Costello, K Gleeson. Replacements: P Coyle/E Byrne, G Hickie, B Casey, T Brennan, B Willis, P McKenna/S Keogh, A Magro.
GLASGOW: R Kerr; J Steele, J McLaren, A Henderson, M Bartlett; T Hayes, A Nicol; G McIlwhain, G Bulloch, L Harrison, N Ross, J White, G Simpson, R Reid, G Flockhart. Replacements: G Scott, E Murray, S Griffiths, A Hall, G Berveridge, A Bulloch, B Irvin g.
Referee: N Whitehouse (Wales).
Previous meetings: European Cup (99-00) Glasgow 29 Leinster 17, Leinster 44 Glasgow 17; Celtic League (01-02) Leinster 39 Glasgow 11.
Celtic League formguide: Leinster - W W W W W W W W. Glasgow - L D L W W W W W.
Leading try scorers: Leinster - Girvan Dempsey, Denis Hickie 6 each, Gordon D'Arcy, John McWeeney 3 each. Glasgow - James McLaren, Tommy Hayes 4 each, Roland Reid 3.
Leading points scorers: Leinster - Nathan Spooner 71. Glasgow - Tommy Hayes 103.
Forecast: Leinster to win.
