Rush repair puts Powell on sidelines

It says something about the strength of European club rugby that the eight Heineken Cup quarter-finalists can whistle up an all-international line-up from their respective replacements' benches. It says even more when Test performers as accomplished as Clément Poitrenaud, David Skrela, Peter Stringer, Yannick Nyanga and Andy Powell are deemed unworthy of a full 80 minutes' thud and blunder. This is the time of the season when coaches expect to make difficult selection decisions, and some of the decisions made yesterday were almost too hard for words.

Did David Young, the man in charge of Cardiff Blues, really want to leave Powell among the optional add-ons for this afternoon's highly charged meeting with Toulouse at the Millennium Stadium, having watched the No 8 perform so brilliantly for Wales during the autumn contests with South Africa, New Zealand and Australia? Probably not. "Selection is part and parcel of the job, and a responsibility I don't take lightly," said the former Lions prop. "People will focus on the No 8 selection, but this is the first time both Andy and Xavier Rush have been fit at the same time. In fact, this is the first week I've had a full squad from which to choose. And as I said at the start of the season, it's the squad that wins trophies, not just the team."

The fact that Rush, an All Black forward whose leadership skills were forged in the fires of Auckland rugby, has been given precedence will not do a great deal for Powell's chances of making the cut for the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa this summer, but the Heineken Cup is now far too important for the needs of a particular individual to influence a coach's thinking. If the Lions hierarchy want one last look at the Welshman before the naming of the party on Tuesday week, they may have to make do with a 15-minute cameo.

Should the Blues prevail over the French champions – a mighty big ask, given the jaw-dropping quality of an opposing back division featuring Maxime Medard, Cedric Heymans, Yannick Jauzion and Frédéric Michalak – there will definitely be seven English clubs in the draw for next season's tournament. Pro-Cardiff prayers are already being whispered around the shires, not least because London Irish's surprise defeat by Bourgoin in the Challenge Cup on Thursday put the cat among the pigeons with a vengeance.

It is now perfectly possible that a team from outside the top six in the Guinness Premiership – Northampton or Worcester, Saracens or Newcastle – will win the second-string European title, thereby guaranteeing a Heineken place and putting the squeeze on automatic qualification from the domestic league. If Toulouse do enough to earn France the seventh place and restrict England to six, the conclusion of the Premiership will be an even bigger frenzy than currently anticipated.

Leicester, who have home advantage over Bath this evening, should find a way into next term's elite competition come what may, but the West Countrymen can no longer be so sure of their ground, scrabbling around as they are in a more neurotic corner of the Premiership table. They badly need a repeat of their victory over the Tigers at the same stage of the 2005-06 Heineken Cup, at the self-same Walkers Stadium. With the South African scrum-half Michael Claassens and the powerful loose-head scrummager David Flatman back on duty, as well as the captain Michael Lipman, they at least have a chance.

Harlequins, yet to feature in the last four, also have their first-choice breakaway forward and leader back between the shafts. Will Skinner, such an impressive performer this season, has recovered from the stomach bug that prevented him participating in last weekend's startling Premiership victory at Bath and will start alongside Chris Robshaw and Nick Easter against Leinster tomorrow.

There was no such good news from Ospreys, however. The Welshmen, saddled with the unenviable task of taking on the holders Munster in Limerick, must do so without their international full-back Lee Byrne, who failed a fitness test on his injured ankle. Tommy Bowe will play at No 15.