RUGBY HEINEKEN CUP:A NEAR 50,000 crowd at Wembley for the Leinster galacticos, albeit without their greatest galactico of all; the men in red fighting for their lives in round two in front of a 27,000-packed house in their Thomond Park bear pit, the Springbok-infused Ulstermen sampling the delights of the Basque country in Biarritz and mouth-watering matches wherever else you look.

Even by Heineken Cup standards, this is not an average weekend.

Proving that he is not, after all, super human, no doubt to his great disappointment Brian O’Driscoll will not be adorning the new Wembley as Keith Wood and co did 11 years ago – when uncle Fester scored one of Ireland’s tries in the 29-23 win over Wales. In his stead, Joe Schmidt has opted to play Luke Fitzgerald in the number 13 jersey against Saracens today, thereby recalling Shane Horgan to the wing (as well as Cian Healy to the frontrow).

“It’s just an opportunity for us and for others to have a look at Luke in that position. We’re pretty happy with both Eoin O’Malley and Fergus McFadden in that position but we just felt this was an opportunity for Luke mainly because he’s already in sync.

“He’s been playing a lot and we wanted to give Drico as much time in the week as possible, but that hasn’t worked out because we think there’s too much risk in playing Brian.”

Schmidt and the Leinster players walked around Wembley yesterday, and reported the surface to be flat and fast, which added to the excitement in the camp.

“But that excitement is tempered by the physical contest that’s going to be there. I spoke to the guys in Clermont and they certainly have a few players who are suffering bumps and bruises (from their win over Saracens) and they’ve changed their team going to Racing Metro, and that probably is a signal to us as to how combative tomorrow is going to be.”

Schmidt might have been fearful that Racing would play a weakened hand in that other pool two game, but while Racing have welcomed back their outhalf fulcrum Jonathan Wisneiwski, instead it’s old boss Vern Cotter who has rested many of his big guns in making 11 changes from the team which beat Saracens.

Similarly, Toulon have flexed their pecs by making a dozen changes for their trek to Munster. But it would be erroneous to call this the Toulon second team, for Philippe Saint-André clearly had one eye on this game a week ago, as well as their ensuing run of three successive away matches in the Top 14, when, for example, resting their captain Joe van Niekerk last week.

In addition to their South African leader-from-the-front, it’s also hard to imagine that Carl Hayman, Pierre Mignoni and Felipe Contepomi won’t have either the desire or the experience to be up for this game in a major way.

The danger for Contepomi, on whom all eyes will be trailed from the off, is that he could be too up for it and no doubt there’ll be even more verbals than usual on and off the pitch. Recalling his troubles when last at this venue with Leinster two seasons ago, his first place kick will also be a defining moment in the match.

Toulon do have a bloke called Wilkinson and some other heavy hitters on the bench, but it’s also a gamble to play the 19-year-old Clement Magnaval at fullback. All in all, this will not be the first cousin of dull.

If last week felt like a changing of the Munster guard, in their hour of need, this feels more like their reinstatement.

Mick O’Driscoll, Alan Quinlan and David Wallace are all restored to the starting line-up, while in the absence of the suspended Sam Tuitupou, the ever adaptable Johne Murphy fills in alongside Keith Earls in midfield, with Paul Warwick restored at fullback.

Prior to the Irish squad for the November Tests being announced on Tuesday, as with Leo Cullen for Leinster, Jerry Flannery also makes a timely return to the bench.

Munster obituaries at the ready yet again? Not just yet, one suspects.

The return from injury of BJ Botha and Stephen Ferris for what is liable to be an arm-wrestle in the south west is equally well-timed for Ulster, and it means their five South Africans (including four Springboks) all start together for the first time.

Biarritz have only lost twice at Parc des Sports Aguilera in 30 pool matches, and Ulster have never won away, but you sense if ever there’s a time to break that duck it really could be tomorrow.