Brian O'Driscoll believes Ronan O'Gara will be licking his lips at the prospect of taking on Leinster for a place in the Heineken Champions Cup final.
O'Gara's La Rochelle side were the first side out of the draw drum in this evening's semi-finals draw and they were paired with Leinster, with the last four clash set to go ahead on the weekend of April 30/May 1/2.
"Straight away you think ROG v Leinster, we had so many tussles with his Munster side," said O'Driscoll, recalling his own battles with O'Gara when they faced off in interpro battle.
"They had the edge on us at the beginning, Leinster managed to turn it around.
"Now, as a coach, I think he'll relish taking on a highly-fancied Leinster team over to La Rochelle.
"The brand he's got his team playing, Leinster don't come across that very often. It's all-encompassing, it's fast, it's frenetic.
"I do feel as though they'll look at the teams that beat La Rochelle - Exeter had a great victory there last season - and they'll try and understand what they managed to do to unlock them in their back yard."
Speaking on BT Sport, O'Driscoll expressed his admiration for how Leinster overcame the concession of two early converted tries away from home to overpower reigning champions Exeter Chiefs on Saturday.
"They haven't had to kick into that fourth or fifth gear too often this season," admitted O'Gara.
"It's disrespectful to say they won the PRO14 at a canter but they did it without having to push themselves.
"Yes, they lost a couple of games but it did feel as though they went to a level I hadn't seen from them that often (against Exeter) because they didn't have to go there.
"It does feel like they're raising their game to another level."
