It is Heineken Cup knock-out time coming up and a host of the stars who featured in the 2011 RBS 6 Nations tournament – including 10 of England’s championship winning squad – should stay firmly fixed under the spotlight and grace the prestigious and high-profile quarter-finals next month.
Almost half of those 40 plus Championship players could be on parade at a packed Aviva Stadium when 2009 Heineken Cup champions Leinster take on former double champions Leicester Tigers with another 11 in the mix for the all-French San Sebastian Sunday showdown between Biarritz Olympique and Toulouse.
For Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll there will be a rapid return to the ground where he scored his championship record 25thtry in the 24-8 Round 5 victory over England while Leinster team-mate and man-of-the match Jonny Sexton will also relish playing in front of another sell-out crowd.
PERPIGNAN (4): Nicolas Mas, Guilhem Guirado, David Marty, Maxime Mermoz
TOULON (1): Jonny Wilkinson
LEINSTER (12):Luke Fitzgerald, Fergus McFadden, Brian O’Driscoll, Gordon D’Arcy, Jonny Sexton, Eoin Reddan, Cian Healy, Mike Ross, Leo Cullen, Sean O’Brien, Jamie Heaslip, Nathan Hines
LEICESTER TIGERS (6):Toby Flood, Ben Youngs, Dan Cole, Louis Deacon, Tom Croft, Martin Castrogiovanni
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS (5):Ben Foden, Chris Ashton, Dylan Hartley, Tom Wood, Joe Ansbro
ULSTER RUGBY (5): Rory Best, Paddy Wallace, Andrew Trimble, Tom Court, Simon Danielli
BIARRITZ OLYMPIQUE (5): Damien Traille, Dimitri Yachvili, Jerome Thion, Imanol Harinordoquy, Sylvain Marconnet
TOULOUSE (6):Clement Poitrenaud, Maxime Medard, Vincent Clerc, Yannick Jauzion, William Servat, Thierry Dusautoir