On Borders: "They're a good side who fill the field and play a wide defence. They'll certainly have a go at us and it's a perennial challenge to contain someone like Chris Cusiter.

"We've come off the back of a good win and the situation is very similar to last year when we won in France and had to go there. I've seen a different attitude from our players this week and this will be another important test and a part of the growth of our individual players."

On Half-Back Competition: "It's tricky when you have two or three quality players in the one position. That's one of the great qualities about Guy in that he's always looking to play.

"I have no doubts as regards the quality of our players and we have Cillian Willis back in training and he's named in the squad. We've also got the likes of Matt D'Arcy - who was on the bench last week - and Paul O'Donohoe who has come from the U-20's. At out-half we have Andy (Dunne) back and the likes of Jonathan Sexton and Ian Keatley who was also involved with the U-20's.

"The likes of Guy and Whits (Chris Whitaker) are working with these blokes in training and Owen Finegan is also helping the likes of Devin (Toner) and Kevin McLaughlin in training. I see this as an important part of our evolution for our next crop of players."

Team News: "Shane (Horgan) carried a bit of an injury into the Munster game last week and Girvan (Dempsey) hurt himself in training so we've given him the week off.

"In no way is that disrespectful of the opposition. These blokes have a long season ahead of them and we have the likes of Kearney and Lewis back and Luke Fitzgerald didn't play that much last weekend.

On Indiscipline: "It's not something that I'm concerned about. Ronan McCormack is suspended after picking up his third yellow card and he has copped a bit unfairly but it's not something that I've spoken to him about.

"If teams focus on Felipe (Contepomi) then I'll be encouraging our other runners

On the Munster Victory: "I thought we mixed it up well in terms of our passion and aggression. We stuck at our plan and I was happy with our defence, but we missed a few tackled which you would expect against Munster who are such strong runners.

"The players got a bit of a shock when they took to the field. The crowd arrived late and then all of a sudden it was full and the team responded to that.

"We've got to keep our intensity and consistency because we have the Borders on Friday, then Gloucester in Dublin the following Saturday followed by Edinburgh away on the Sunday."