Girvan Dempsey doesn't believe that Leinster's inability to organise a warm-up game for this Saturday's clash with Toulouse will be as big a disadvantage as many people are making out.
The province's head coach Michael Cheika hasn't been able to field his first-choice starting XV since the Heineken Cup victory over Bath at the tail end of January due to the Six Nations, and, more frustratingly, Leinster's 'free weekend' in the Celtic League arriving at the worse possible time - the weekend before their daunting trip to France.
Leinster officials tried desperately to organise a friendly for last weekend but it wasn't to be.
As a result, many pundits feel that rustiness and a lack of match practice could cost Leinster dear on Saturday.
However, it is not a belief shared by Dempsey, who told reporters at Wednesday's press conference at the RDS that he and his fellow Ireland colleagues have had no problems slotting back into the provincial fold.
"Compared to other years, it's actually been very smooth transition for us," the Ireland full-back told reporters at Wednesday's press conference at the RDS.
"We've come back with a lot of confidence after the success of the Six Nations, while the guys that have been training here all along have been working very hard.
"So, I don't think not playing together for a while has been a bad thing. I think we're going into this game very fresh, very focused and knowing exactly what we have to do."
However, Dempsey is not underestimating the enormity of the challenge facing Leinster at Le Stadium Municipal this weekend.
"It's a very tough ask but we're really looking forward to it," he insisted. "We have the game and the players to pose Toulouse a lot of problems.
"One thing that we're really going to do on Saturday is go out there and play some rugby against them.
"You cannot stand off them. You cannot just let them come at you and try to defend for eighty minutes, because you're not going to be successful doing that.
"Certain French teams do have an aura around them which can create a certain fear factor - but we're very experienced.
"We've played these guys before and we'll go out there with the confidence that no matter what they throw at us we're capable of containing them, and then hopefully reacting to it by putting them under pressure."
Dempsey is also looking forward to coming up against a former Leinster team-mate this weekend: one Trevor Brennan.
"It's going to be exciting Trevor is obviously going to out there hoping to take a few Leinster players' heads off!," he joked.
"Trevor will be hoping to have a big game against his old team but it'll all be very friendly after the game."
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