Leinster Rugby continue the defence of their Heineken Cup crown when they meet Cardiff Blues in the second quarter-final of the day at a packed Aviva Stadium on Saturday evening - and they will be out to extend their winning tournament run at the home of Irish rugby to five successive matches.
Last season they beat the then reigning French champions, ASM Clermont Auvergne, English champions, Leicester Tigers, and Heineken Cup champions, Toulouse on the road to a second Heineken Cup triumph.
They have added a 52-27 Pool 3 victory over Bath Rugby back in November and now the massive challenge for the Blues is to be the first to lower Leinster colours in Heineken Cup contests at the ground - especially in frotn of a crowd of 50,000 packed in to see if they can stay on course ot match Leicester Tigers' record back-to-back European triumphsof 2001 and 2002.
The Blues had a miserable dress rehearsal last weekend when they suffered a 31-3 Pro12 defeat at Glasgow Warriors while Leinster triumphed 18-9 on the road at Munster Rugby. To add to their woes, the blues also parted company with Wales centre Gavin henson in the wake of the game in Glasgow after an incident in the air.
The champions have also been lifted by the timely return to fitness of centre and talisman Brian O'Driscoll while the Blues, already resigned to being without injured Grand Slam winning Wales captain Sam Warburton, discovered this week that they will also be without their block-busting centre Jamie Roberts for the rest of the season.
And while Irish rugby has three teams in the last eight for the first time, the Blues are alone in flying the flag for Wales - and will have to create a bit of club history if they are to qualify for the last four and a trip to face either Saracens or ASM Clermont Auvergne in the semi-finals on the weekend of 28/29 April.
This will be the fifth away quarter-final the Blues will have faced and so far they have lost the lot on the road, at Bath, Llanelli, Gloucester and Toulouse.
And with a number of Blues players moving on at the end of the season - including Gethin Jenkins, Casey Laulala, Dan Parks and Thomas Rhys Thomas - they will be out to make sure this is not their last tournament outing for the club.
